The Diabolus Crystal
by Flock o' Seagulls
Summary: Several months after the end to the Subspace Emissary, Ganondorf hatches a new scheme to take over the world, and it's up to the heroes to stop him...But what happens when the Smashers may have to kill one of their own to ensure the safety of all mankind?
1. Chapter 1

"It had been several months since...No, that's not a good way to start a story... Once upon a time...No, that's lame, too... Maybe if I start off with some dialogue... Ooh, I know, some fan service for the ladies! Link was butt naked in the-"

"Will you shut up already?! You're driving me nuts!" Ganondorf screamed,"And if Link was butt naked, why should I need to know that?!"

"Come on, chief, every good story needs a little fan service, and recent polls suggest many women who play The Legend of Zelda are attracted to-"

"I don't care!!"Ganondorf sighed, running a hand through his short red hair and staring back at the little mole trailing behind him. It had been several months since the evil Tabuu had been defeated and he'd had to live with the humiliation of working with Link and Zelda to thwart his plans. While it had been somewhat entertaining to watch an enemy of his end up on the receiving end of Link's sword instead of one of his minions, the time of peace between mortal enemies had been short lived, and, after watching enemies like Mario and Bowser and Kirby and King Dedede return to their constant battle of "good versus evil", Ganondorf had also returned to vowing his eternal wrath on Zelda and Link. He'd planned to finish them off while they were still fatigued from the battle against Tabuu, but they'd disappeared before he got the chance, most likely returning to Hyrule. All that had been left behind was Resetti, an annoying mole that had occasionally popped up during fights to talk about useless information, like how he had taken comedy lessons from a class clown. If Ganondorf had to hear one more word out of the dumb animal, it was going to find itself staring down the wrong end of the Triforce of Power...

"As I was saying, Link was butt naked in the Ordon Spirit Spring, inspecting the wounds he'd received during the battle against Tabuu and wondering what had become of his comrades since then. He couldn't shake the feeling that-"

"All right! That does it!" Resetti looked up, screaming in horror as he saw Ganondorf's eyes glowing black, his right hand lit with light. He jumped into the air, palm drawn back, and thrust it down on Resetti, igniting the little mole with black lightning before it exploded, taking a large chunk of the earth with it. To Ganondorf's dismay, Resetti was still alive, albeit charred to a crisp and unconscious, lying at the bottom of the crater. Ganondorf stared down at the Triforce of Power, wondering why it had gotten so weak. Before he'd been imprisoned in the Evil Realm by the Hero of Time and Princess of Destiny, an attack like that would have killed little Resetti. Maybe being sealed away for several centuries had made his magic rusty. He'd have to be sure to practice on his minions when he was in Hyrule again before facing Link.

Ganondorf chuckled to himself, preparing to turn and leave before Resetti woke up, when the gleam of gold at the bottom of the hole caught his eye. He levitated down into the bottom of the hole, picking up Resetti and tossing him aside while bending over to inspect it. He dusted it off with the back of his hand, surprised to find a black treasure chest bedazzled with gold, and what should be on the lid but the symbol of the Triforce. Ganondorf slid the lid off carefully, barely able to contain himself as he saw a dark mist resting in the bottom. "It can't be..." Ganondorf reached into the bottom of the box, groping around until his fingers came across a cold piece of metal. The mist vanished and Ganondorf pulled out a gem aglow with black mist with red sparkles of light within, not so different from the mist of the Twilight Realm. Wherever there wasn't any mist the gem was transparent, a slight distortion when looking through it the only sign it was there until mist reached out to those points before receding again. It seemed impossible, the gem having gone missing several millenia ago, but it was true. Ganondorf held in his hand...

"Ow, my aching...everything!" Resetti moaned, finally starting to regain consciousness. He shook some of the dirt and soot out of his fur and looked up to see Ganondorf smiling insanely at some dark stone in his hand, "Ugh, that was worse than that time I got on the merry-go-round after eating fifteen hot fudge sundaes... Whatcha got there, G?"

Ganondorf turned to Resetti, his eyes glowing like flames, "The answer to all of my problems."

As Resetti had already pointed out, Link was standing in the deepest part of the Ordon Spirit Spring in Hyrule, inspecting the wounds from his battle with Tabuu. While several months had indeed passed since heroes and mortal enemies joined forces to take out the evil that threatened to engulf the entire world in Subspace, Link's wounds were still fresh, him having lasted the longest against the evil overlord before it finally unleashed its shockwave into him and blasted him back into the Great Maze before Pit took over. The proof of his defeat rested in a deep gash in his chest where the shockwave had made impact with his body, which would have definitely killed him if not for the protection of the Triforce of Courage and the small bit of the attack it had managed to deflect. Of course, Link's own wounds and humiliation weren't the only things he was thinking about...

Link sighed, stepping out of the spring and pulling on his Ordonian clothes, his tunic still in need of stitching since his fight with Tabuu, though, most of the repairs were done. The clothes adhered to his skin, forcing a small grimace out of the young hero as his shirt rubbed against his wounds. He had to wonder how the others were holding up- Zelda, Pit, and Mario had gotten their fair share of stuffing beat out of them by Tabuu, as well- but his biggest concern was of the little boy with blond hair and large, black eyes, dressed in a green tunic not so different from his own... Link still remembered the day he'd revisited the forest where he'd pulled out the Master Sword to find a red door leading onto a pirate ship floating on the sea. He'd been mesmerized, wondering what sort of enemy could possibly be lying in wait in such a beautiful place, and that was when he'd heard the childish laughter above him. He'd drawn his sword out of instinct, shouting to the crow's nest for the enemy to show itself, and show itself it did. A little boy of twelve jumped down from the mast and turned to him, unsheathing none other than the Master Sword. They'd both gasped, staring first at their swords, then their tunics, and finally their faces. It was another Link! The younger put up a good fight, his sword skills obviously honed years before Link's, but the older Link won out in the end, dragging the child out to show the others.

Everyone had also been in shock over the discovery of the younger Link, some saying Link was just dealing with some shapeshifter, others, like Zelda, deciding he was a reincarnation. The answer soon became apparent when the little Link had caught sight of Ganondorf, instantly ready to battle, though, he admitted Ganondorf looked different from the way he remembered him. The little boy was Link's reincarnation, the Hero of Winds. For some reason Princess Peach nicknamed the little boy "Toon Link", and it eventually grew on everyone, until even Link was referring to the little boy as Toon Link. He asked all he could about the future in what little time they had before entering Subspace, and Toon Link gladly answered, asking everything he could about the past, despite Zelda's protests that Link could change the future even though damage had already been done when Link and Toon Link had met. For some reason, however, Link couldn't get any answers out of the little boy about the state of Hyrule in his time. The closest he'd gotten to an answer was seeing Toon Link stare at the floor sadly, trying not to cry before Lucas and Ness cut in and asked Toon Link to help them with some trivial task on the Halberd, and that was the end of that. After that, Toon Link refused to even talk to Link, and they'd parted ways for their own lands without even a good-bye to each other. That alone was enough to keep Link awake at night, wondering why Toon Link was suddenly so angry with him and what could have happened to Hyrule to upset him so much...

Sighing once again, Link tugged on his sandals and put his Ordon Sword on his back before walking out of the spring and back into his yard. He began to climb the ladder into his house, when...

"Look out below!!"Link looked up, but his reflexes didn't kick in soon enough, for he soon found his face stomped on by a sandal, then another sandal dug into his back, causing him to fall onto his stomach cursing in pain. The sandal wearing person jumped off of Link, staring down at the young man muttering Hylian curses under his breath, "Oops... Hey, are you all right?!" The strange youth grabbed Link's arm, starting to pull him to his feet, and talking breathlessly, his words seeming to combine into one sentence, "I'm really, really sorry! I didn't mean to do it, honestly. See, I'm looking for a friend of mine; about my height, green tunic, wears a sword and shield on his back. I know this is a bad time to ask, but have you seen him?"

"You forgot to mention that he just got clobbered by a crazy angel falling from the sky! Thanks a lot, Pit!" Pit blinked in surprise, finally getting a good look at Link's face.

"Link, is that...you? Geez, Palutena told me it was you, but... you look so weird without the dress on!"

"It's not a dress, it's a tunic, and you can hardly make fun of what I wear when you wander around in a toga!" Link pushed himself up off of the ground, wiping off his face with the back of his sleeve. When he finished, he looked at Pit, making the startling realization that Pit's injuries were almost completely healed since the battle against Tabuu. He remembered the fight- how, not long after he was blasted back into the Great Maze and Pit flew in to fight Tabuu, Pit, too, was sent flying out, several large, deep gashes in his body. King Dedede had called in some Waddle Dees to take the injured warriors back to the Falcon Flyer, where Link had decided from how much blood Pit was losing that the angel would surely bleed to death. It was actually a miracle either one of them had survived, but it was a blessing in disguise that Pit was healed, save for some faded marks all over his arms and legs. Palutena had obviously been behind Pit's speedy recovery.

Link didn't realize that, while he was reliving that nightmarish fight against Tabuu, Pit had been relating everything that had gone on in the months since everyone had parted ways, "...Why didn't any of you guys tell me how fun it is to travel when you aren't being hassled by monsters? I mean, have you seen the Mushroom Kingdom or Icicle Mountain without being sped through them to fight something or rescue someone? And Hyrule... I only saw the view from above, but it's incredible! If Skyworld was like Hyrule, I'd never leave home."

Link chuckled despite himself, "I wouldn't say that if I were you; Hyrule is a notorious disaster magnet. If Ganondorf isn't hatching some scheme to destroy the place, someone or something else is. Just last year this place was trapped in the Twilight Realm...kind of like Subspace, only twenty times worse. And, from all the rumors I heard about the things that happened during the Hero of Time's life..."

"Hero of Time?"

"It's a long story. We'll be here for days if I tell you everything I know about him."

"Oh, come on! Toon Link said the same thing when he mentioned him, and Princess Zelda, too! What's the big secret about him?! Come on, I've got time!"

"And I don't. Unlike you, I have a job that doesn't involve me getting to run around doing as I please."

"And I do?! Palutena sent me to check on everyone. As soon as I finish that, it's straight back to Skyworld, only able to watch you guys through the seer fountain! Princess Zelda's my last stop, and she's just a three minute flight away! Please, give me some reason to stay here..." Pit was practically on his knees begging. He was like a little kid sometimes.

"Uh...Well..." Link scratched his head, trying to think of something that could keep Pit there. Finally an idea came to him and a small grin spread across him face before he suddenly stumbled onto his knees, moaning in agony and clutching his stomach in pain, "Ugh...Pit, help me...Please..." Link fell over onto his side, coughing up a storm until his face turned purple, "I can't feel my legs...My vision's fading...I...I see a light at the end of a dark tunnel..."

Pit got down beside Link, worry etched onto his face, "Link, what's wrong? Oh, geez, maybe I should get a doctor and-"

"Mmmph....No doctor...Just a friend...A friend until I recover..." Pit stared at Link quizically, until Link finally hissed through his teeth, "I'm faking so you can stay, stupid; just play along!" Pit nodded, lifting Link into his arms, and flying them up to the door to Link's house. And then came the big finale. Link's breathing went shallow until his breaths came in and out just like a death rattle, and he stretched one hand up toward the sky, his eyes slowly closing as he muttered softly, "Mom...Dad...Is that you...?" And then he sighed once more, his arm dropping limply onto his stomach before his entire body seemed to turn limp in Pit's arms. Pit stumbled under the sudden weight, staring at Link in surprise. That was way too realistic; how many times had Link used that to get out of doing something? Pit stared down at Link, then up at the sky, hoping Palutena had bought Link's act. After all, if she knew Link was faking, there was no telling what she'd do to Pit when he returned, or how she might decide to curse Link. Pit swallowed over the lump in his throat, carrying Link inside.

Link's house was made up of one large room with two lofts overhead and a basement at the other end. Two skylights above cast their light onto the room, and a small fire in the oven gave the place a sense of comfort. After discovering Link didn't have a bed, Pit flew him to the lower of the lofts, propping Link's head against the pillow situated against the wall. He looked down at the bookshelf beside Link and scanned the titles of the books, some making him laugh, others surprising him, his favorite title "The Day My Butt Went Psycho!". Link had really weird taste in literature...

Pit flew down from the loft to a small table next to the fireplace, looking at the books Link had cluttered all about. He turned his attention to the green tunic and white underclothes folded on top of one book, a sewing needle and some thread as well as plenty of bandages for Link's fingers strewn around them. Pit lifted the tunic carefully to examine it, finding several large holes still all over the chest and back. There were tons of new stitches a darker green than the original fabric everywhere, and many more old stitches that blended perfectly with the fabric. Now that he could see it better, Pit realized the tunic was a sort of faded color, as though it were decades old, if not centuries. How long had Link had this thing and why? Pit sighed, taking the tunic in his left hand and the needle in his right, stringing some green thread through the eye of the needle before working on the remaining holes in the tunic, managing to prick himself several times while he worked to pass the time before Link decided to end his little fainting act.

"Finished!" Pit yelled triumphantly, holding up the tunic to examine his work. The tunic was finished, albeit the strangest combination of dark green and faded green he'd ever seen, but finished nonetheless. He folded the tunic and put it back where he found it, examining the bandages all over his fingers and the now empty tea kennel resting to his left before standing up and stretching. He looked up at the skylight, realizing he'd been working for most of the afternoon, and that Link hadn't made a peep in any of that time, save for the occasional moan and groan. Pit flew up to the loft again, noticing Link had turned over onto his side so his back was to Pit, the slightest of rhythmic breaths telling Pit that Link was asleep. "You lazy bum... Was this your plan all along? Get the poor angel to do your chores while you nap? If I have scars on my fingers from fixing your stupid dress, you can bet you'll never have another night of peaceful sleep again..." Pit got down on his knees beside Link, grabbing his shoulder forcefully and shaking him, "Rise and shine, Sleeping Beauty, your gown's all finished! Come on, you bum, wake up!"

Link's eyelids twitched and he moaned, fingers curling into fists, "Pit...?"

"No, it's Tabuu; of course it's Pit! You've been asleep most of the afternoon. In the time it took you to nap, I fixed your dress and made and drank three pots of tea by myself! Now, get up!" Pit kicked Link hard in the back, right where he'd landed on him earlier. Link groaned, muttering more Hylian profanity before he finally sat up, rubbing the sleep out of his eyes and kicking Pit's feet out from under him.

"Come on, can you blame me for wanting a little shut eye? I almost died back there, and you expect me to be up and at 'em that quickly?"

Pit ground his teeth together, ready to pummel Link into the floor. Not only had he gotten Pit to lie to Palutena, but now he was using that same lie as an excuse for his laziness! Pit glared at Link, his right hand starting to ball into a fist, "Why you lazy son of a-"

"Oh, Liiiiink!!!" Pit turned toward the door as he and Link heard a voice from the yard, his anger momentarily forgotten, then back at Link, noticing his face was paling as he stared at the door.

"No, it can't be-" Link got up, climbing the ladder to the top loft and shyly peeking through the window. He immediatly lowered his head, turning his back to the wall and moaning, "No...Not HER..." Link jumped back down beside Pit, grabbing the angel's toga and shaking him back and forth, "Pit, you have to save me!"

"Why? Who is it? Who's there?"

"Does that matter? Please, I'm begging you; I'll do anything you ask, just please, sneak me out of here, tell a lie, just get HER away from me!"

"Anything? Like take me on a tour of Hyrule?"

"Yeah, whatever! Just save me from HER!!" Pit stared at Link as though he had completely lost his mind, then grabbed his friend's arms and flew up toward the skylight over the basement. "Wait a sec." Link pushed Pit's hands from his arms and landed with a soft thump on the floor, walking over to the table and grabbing his tunic as well as the Hylian Shield sitting in the corner. He put the shield on his back over top of his sword, and somehow squeezed the tunic as well as his boots and leggings into a small bag on his belt before walking back over to Pit. "Okay, now I'm ready to go."

"You're really weird, you know that?"

"It's part of what makes me a hero." Pit rolled his eyes, grabbing Link's arms again and flying them out through the skylight. Pit could see Link nervously looking back at his yard and out of curiosity looked back to see who he was helping Link avoid. It was all Pit could do to keep from dropping Link while trying to control a bout of laughter as he saw, down in Link's yard far below them, a little fairy fluttering from place to place faintly calling what Pit assumed was Link's name.

"A fairy?! You're afraid of a little fairy?"

"She's not just a fairy; that's Navi, the evil little witch that ruined both mine and the Hero of Time's lives."

"Oh, come off it, Link. She couldn't be that bad!"

"You think so, huh? You ever fight something, and, just as you're about to go in for the ending blow, you hear an annoying little voice scream "Hey!" into your ear, then tell you information about the thing you're fighting that you could have used several minutes ago and is useless now, distracting you long enough for your enemy to recover and strike you back? That's what Navi does! She'll pop up out of nowhere and start screaming things at me I learned years ago like I'm an idiot. She claims to have been an advisor to the Hero of Time, so I guess it's no wonder why he mysteriously vanished a hundred years ago... Oh, you can drop down here."

Pit flew down into a large clearing in Faron Woods, watching as Link walked over to a small cave, emerging several minutes later in the tunic Pit had fixed up, the strange differences in color shades of the tunic barely even noticeable. He walked over to a strange bunch of flowers growing to Pit's right and plucked one, putting it to his lips and whistling a strangely melancholic tune that echoed through the woods. Pit heard what sounded like a horse neigh in the the distance, then saw a brown mare with a white mane and tail come running to Link, and he patted her nose gently. Link climbed into the horse's saddle, grabbing her reins and gently nudging her so she was facing Pit.

"Pit, I'd like you to meet my horse Epona. Epona, this is my friend Pit." Epona nudged her nose into Pit's face and he rubbed it as he'd seen Link doing. She also butted her head into his chest, neighing playfully as he smiled, reaching up to scratch behind Epona's ears. It was obvious he was intrigued with the creature; while Pit had seen and heard horses through the seer fountain, this was his first time meeting one face to face. He could barely contain himself when he heard Link say, "So, you want a ride? Hyrule's pretty large; you'd better save flying for when you need it."

"S-Sure. Okay." Pit climbed onto the saddle behind Link, immediatly having to grab onto his friend for dear life as Link tugged hard on Epona's reins, sending her reeling into the air before she made a partial turn and Link yelled a loud, "Hyaa!", sending her galloping out of the woods into the vast Hyrule Field.

To Be Continued

By: Flock o' Seagulls

A NOTE: While it looks fake, I know, "The Day My Butt Went Psycho!" is a real book (a kid's book, of course). My mom happened upon it in Walden Books one day while helping me look for a different book, and it amused the heck out of us just seeing the cover. So, if you ever see it in the bookstore, read the back cover and the first page and decide just how weird Link's taste in literature really is.


	2. Chapter 2

While Link and Pit went exploring across Hyrule, Mario stared down into the warp pipe that would take him into Bowser's lair. The Flash Liquidizer Ultra Dousing Device-better known as F.L.U.D.D.- was strapped to the plumber turned hero's back, his signature red cap with the large M on the front pulled securely down over his messy, brown hair. Once again Mario was here to save his beloved Princess Peach of the Mushroom Kingdom from the tyrannical Bowser's evil clutches, prepared to put his life on the line for his princess. Taking a quick breath to calm himself, Mario jumped into the warp pipe.

The hero soon found himself falling onto a strange green platform shaped like a star, blue mines covered in yellow spikes seemingly floating in midair surrounding it. The sky was black, a few ominous, red clouds streaking it. Mario did a few flips through the air before finally landing, and, as his feet touched down onto the platform, he felt the ground beneath him shake and soon found Bowser stomping his way toward him, as angry and menacing as ever. Peach, not surprisingly, was nowhere in sight.

Bowser stopped a few yards from his foe, red eyes staring Mario down. "Well, if it isn't Mario. Come to get your precious Peach back, eh? Well, I'd like to see you try it, little man!" Bowser took a deep breath, lifting his head toward the sky as flames of both orange and blue shot out of his mouth, falling to the platform, the blue ones splitting into three and bouncing off in different directions as they landed. Mario jumped out of the way of one blue flame, only to land on an orange one.

"Momma mia!!Gaaaaaaah!!!!" Mario yelled, running around and fanning his smoldering rump with his hands. F.L.U.D.D. looked back, lowering his spout to put out the flames just as Bowser came running over, claws extended to slice the hero to ribbons. Mario jumped to the side, reaching out and managing to grab onto Bowser's scaley orange tail. Bowser roared in rage, turning to knock away Mario, but Mario was already beginning to spin in circles, faster and faster until Bowser was hovering up off of the ground from the speed. Without warning Mario let go of the evil monster's tail, thrusting him directly into one of the large mines stationed around the platform with a quick yelp of, "So long, big Bowser!"

Mario and F.L.U.D.D. were soon greeted by a great explosion as Bowser's toasted remains came flying back into the center of the platform. It was over, and Mario was, once again, the victor. Mario turned to head back to the castle, F.L.U.D.D. as enthusiastic over the addition of another triumph over the tyrant as Mario was, when...

"Not so fast!" Mario stopped, turning, finding his face met with a large, scaley fist. The momentum of the punch nearly sent Mario flying into one of the remaining mines, when F.L.U.D.D. transformed into its hover nozzle mode and flew Mario safely back onto the platform to find the ghostly form of Bowser standing over them, red eyes aglow with rage. The ghost let loose a great roar that shook the entire platform, and Mario got into an immediate battle stance, bouncing in place, arms swinging up and down. He fixed his cap into place before rushing toward the great ghost, jumping up into the air and drawing back his right fist, ready to land it on Bowser's huge snout. But as Mario swung his fist forward he found himself hitting only air, falling to the ground just behind Bowser. A swing of his tail brushed Mario aside like a leaf, leaving the plumber not only bewildered but irritated. How was it that Bowser could attack him but he couldn't attack Bowser, and how was it that Bowser had managed to come back as a ghost? It wasn't some strange doing of Ganondorf's or Master Hand's before Bowser was betrayed, was it?

But speculation on how this was possible wouldn't help Mario's predicament. Bowser came storming over to the mustachioed plumber, kicking him in the stomach. While Mario was doubled over in pain Bowser slammed his elbow into Mario's head, sending Mario falling to the floor, blood trickling from his head. Still wincing in pain, Mario looked up, finding the large monster standing above him, claws outstretched. "What's wrong? No begging for mercy? No biting wit? No idiotic last words about revenge? Has the great Mario Mario finally failed?" Bowser lowered one claw to Mario's face, slicing his cheek, "You have no idea how long I've waited for this day. The day the famous Mario died at my hands!" Bowser pulled back his arm and Mario pinched his eyes shut, waiting for the end.

"Maybe dying won't be so bad," he thought, "Maybe heaven's some beautiful wonderland full of pizza, pasta, ravioli, and maybe fountains full of chocolate where hot girls'll sit me down and stuff my face, giggling about how handsome I am and having me tell them the tales of my living days... Oh, God, I hope that's how it is!"

"Hold it right there, Bowser!" Mario's eyes shot open as he heard that ever so familiar voice, heard Bowser scream as the strange sound of a vacuum cleaner began to vibrate behind him and his tail was sucked in first, followed by his legs, his torso, and finally his head. It was a funny sight, actually, seeing just Bowser's head sticking out of a vacuum cleaner, the Poltergust 3000 to be exact, and, wielding the machine, a man taller and slimmer than Mario and with darker hair, but with the same dark blue eyes and a similar ensemble, except where Mario wore red he wore green, and instead of an M on his hat, he had an L. It was Luigi.

Before Bowser was completely consumed by the Poltergust 3000, he screamed, "I'll get you for this, you blasted Mario Brothers! I swear it!!" And then his head disappeared.

Sighing in relief, Luigi switched off his ghost catching vacuum and ran to his brother's side. "Mario, are you okay? That jerk didn't hurt you did he?!"

"Luigi..." Mario suddenly sat up, frightening his already scaredy-cat brother as he brought his arm back and backhanded Luigi, "You idiot! Why'd you have to go and save me?! I was going to get to go to heaven and meet a bunch of hot girls feeding me the finest of cuisine, until you had to come along and ruin it all!"

"What?! Well, excuse me for caring enough about you to follow you here and save you from becoming a Mario Shish Kebab! Next time I'll be sure to let you die!" Luigi turned his back on his older twin and Mario couldn't help but feel bad. Just the fact that Luigi had overcome his fears to save Mario was an impressive feat in and of itself, never mind that he actually succeeded. Besides, someday he'd get to go and eat his fine cuisine being crammed into his mouth by voluptuous babes, even if he was as wrinkly as a prune and as bald as a Goomba, and then, maybe, Luigi could be enjoying it, too.

"Luigi, I-I'm sorry. I'm glad you saved me. Actually, I'm surprised you came to my rescue at all, seeing as how you usually flee at the first sign of danger. Thanks."

Luigi half turned to his brother. "You mean it?" Mario nodded. "Heh. Then I guess you're welcome." Luigi extended his hand and Mario clasped it, bobbing his brother's arm up and down excitedly. "So, how did you envision heaven this time?"

"Oh, it was amazing! There was food everywhere- all of my favorites. Pizza, ravioli, pastas of every shape, size, and flavor, huge fountains of chocolate, and...Oh, the angels, Luigi! They were so beautiful- long, light brown hair, beautiful blue eyes, pointed ears, I think..."

"Holy crap, were you picturing Princess Zelda or something?! Do you know what Link would do to you if he ever found out?!"

"Link? Oh, you mean the guy in the dress... Why? Does he have a crush on her or something?"

Luigi slapped his forehead, shaking his head in disbelief, "How do you not know? Were you off in your little fantasy world the whole time you were around them or something? I was a trophy most of the adventure and I still saw something between them the few hours I was with you guys! You'd have to be blinder than a bat not to see it!!"

"Ow, that hurts my feelings, little bro," Mario said, feigning offense unconvincingly by the huge smile peeking out from behind his mustache.

"And how do you think Princess Peach would feel about you having it bad for another princess from some other country? Shame on you, Mario Mario!"

"Peach?" Mario's eyes grew to the size of watermelons and he seized his brother's wrist, dragging him across the platform toward the edge where there was no longer a mine, "Oh geez, I forgot all about her! She's still trapped somewhere in the castle! You've gotta help me find her!"

But Luigi wasn't listening, for Mario was starting to drag him right over the side of the platform! "Mario, wait! We can't walk on thin air; we need to get Raccoon Suits before we-" But it was too late, Mario had already taken a leap off of the platform, sending him and Luigi plummeting through the sky. "Mama mia! To think I'll have to see your Zelda angels so early! Oh, all the things I never got to do; I'll die without ever having kissed a girl!"

"Will you calm down? I know what I'm doing!" Mario yelled back, barely audible above the roar of the wind. The black and red sky disappeared into complete and total darkness, Luigi shielding his eyes, lest he see Mario turn into a pancake on whatever lurked beneath them before he followed. However, the landing never came.

Luigi opened his eyes surprised to see them floating back up to safety. He looked up to see Mario's cocky smile and... two small, white wings flapping gently from out of the sides of his red cap! "Wha? How? You-"

"Told you I knew what I was doing," Mario said, obviously very proud of himself for scaring his twin speechless.

"But...Those wings! They just appeared..."

"Oh, I thought I told you about the Wing Cap already. My mistake... See, it was twelve years ago when Peach invited me to the castle, and there were these caps I could get from these weird boxes that could turn me into metal, make me invisible, or let me fly. After I beat up Bowser I got this star that let me use the Wing Cap without the boxes, and I've kind of been able to use the Wing Cap ever since, and I don't tire out using it because I don't need to do anything to fly. It's as easy for me as breathing."

"Wow, that's really some- Hey, now! You mean all those times we nearly killed ourselves trying to find ways across quicksand and lava, you could have just flown us across?!"

"Er- Well, yeah. For the past twelve years, anyways."

"Mario Mario!"

"I wouldn't be taking that tone of voice if I was you, unless you'd like to see how many bones I could break if I drop you from this high up." Mario peered down, making an annoyed tsking sound, "Ah, that's no fun. We're already there."

Mario lowered his younger brother safely to the ground at the bridge over the castle's drainable lake, staring up at the stain glass window of Peach high above the entrance. Mario nodded his head as though satisfied, lifting up his right hand. To Luigi's amazement, the wings disappeared and a golden star with two large, black eyes, a Starman, appeared above Mario's hand before floating up to the window. It burst into a bunch of golden sparkles, and the image of Princess Toadstool Peach appeared just outside the window. She floated gently down onto the bridge in front of the Mario Bros. before she opened her eyes, staring around in confusion until her eyes fell upon her heroes."Mario? Luigi?"

Before Luigi had time to blink, Mario had run to Peach's side, taken off his hat, and was bowing respectfully. "At your service, Princess."

Peach smiled and Mario thought his heart would stop, "Thank you, Mario, and you, too, Luigi. I guess we'll have to do something special to celebrate again."

"Yeah, that sounds-"

"Bla!!!!" The group from the Mushroom Kingdom looked back, shocked to see a strange, white creature with giant, blue eyes, bunny ears, and what appeared to be a plunger in its hand running across the landscape. It stopped as it saw the plumbers and princess staring at it, blinked twice, and lifted the plunger high into the air, screaming, once again, "Bla!!!!" It began charging towards them, eyes turning a crimson color, and Mario and Luigi got into defensive positions, ready to protect Peach at any and all costs. But they didn't have to.

The odd, rabbit-like creature was blown out of the way by a beam of green light, and the Mushroom Kingdom trio looked over to see none other than their recent allies in the fight against Tabuu, Fox and Falco, Falco's blaster steaming from the fresh shot. "Heh, long time no see, eh, guys?" The strange rabbit thing got up, holding its head in pain before it turned its eyes to the members of Team Star Fox, Fox lifting out his own blaster and shooting the thing again. It screeched in pain-another "Bla!!!!", obviously- before it got up and hightailed it in the opposite direction from which it came.

"What the heck was that thing?" Mario blurted out, watching the creature disappear over a hill.

"Rabbid. I'm not sure where they came from or what they want, but they all just appeared out of nowhere and started attacking us. They're really not that tough to fight off, but when they're in huge groups..."

"Huge groups? You mean there are more of those things?!"

Falco pointed over his shoulder and Mario's and Luigi's mouths dropped open as they beheld a large army of white, blue, yellow, and even a few giant gray Rabbids coming over the hill, most wielding plungers, a few holding sausages and maces. Most of them looked generally like the one they'd seen earlier, but some had on clothes-one was dressed like Superman, several had on scuba helmets or coconut bikinis with grass skirts, and a few others were dressed as pirates and ninjas. They were all charging toward the group of heroes, eyes dark red, screaming their simple word and holding their weapons high above their heads.

"Think we can take them?" Mario asked Fox, hand already groping around in one of his pockets for a power-up.

"If it were just a few of them, maybe, but this many," Fox paused, lifting his blaster and blasting one that was closer than the rest, "It'd be better if we got out of here while we still can. Come on!" Fox and Falco ran in the direction the first Rabbid had taken, Mario, Luigi, and Peach following suit. The Star Fox pilots were punching something into the watches on their wrists, Fox occasionally looking back to see how far away the Rabbid army was. It was actually advancing rather quickly, and Mario stopped to pull out a Fire Flower, changing his overalls from blue to red, his shirt from red to white, and his hat from red to white except for the signature M, and blasted out a few quick fireballs to toast some of the Rabbids. Luigi copied his brother, and soon they were both shooting out fireballs at the army. It backed away in fear, and the plumbers ran to catch up to Peach and the pilots. Fox stopped messing with his watch yelling over his shoulder, "Help should be here in a few minutes. Think you can hold the Rabbids off until then?"

"Yeah, no problem!" A Rabbid ran up to Luigi and he pulled out a tiny Starman, his body glowing a bright white as its attacks bounced off of him and he delivered a surprisingly hard punch to the side of its face, knocking it unconscious.

Mario meanwhile, had his eyes pinched shut, muttering something under his breath, and his body began to glow a bright red. When he opened his eyes they'd gone from blue to gold and he jumped up into the air, yelling out, "Oh, yeah! Hiya!!" Two great, fiery blasts shot out of Mario's hand, shooting out in great waves and reducing nearly half of the army to a charred crisp. Mario dropped back to the ground, back in his regular attire, and grinned triumphantly at his brother, "And that's how it's done!"

"Wasn't that your Final Smash?!" Luigi asked, obviously impressed.

"It's called the Mario Finale, and yes, it was my Final Smash."

"But I thought you had to have a Smash Ball to-"

"Silly Luigi, haven't you realized yet that nothing is impossible for the great Mario to accomplish? And...I kind of stole a Smash Ball before we left the World of Trophies."

"Uh, I hate to interrupt, but we have bigger issues right now, guys!" Fox yelled, lifting his blaster and hitting a couple of Rabbids with one shot. Even with Mario's Final Smash, there were at least a hundred Rabbids leftover, all of them looking even angrier now that most of their comrades had been toasted. Even with Mario, Luigi, Fox, and Falco blasting away at the Rabbids as much as they could, they were still outnumbered, and soon the Rabbids were all within attacking range. They ran to the group, clawing and attacking, taking down first Peach, then Luigi, then Fox, then Falco, and finally Mario, who'd even been biting a few of them to keep them at bay. Mario felt himself being smothered by a bunch of puffy white fur, month old sausage being crammed into his mouth and smacked against the side of his head. One Rabbid with a mace brought the spiked weapon down upon the plumber's head, adding a deep gash to the larger wound caused by Bowser's elbow. He looked over to see his brother had been turned into a trophy, something he thought was impossible in their world, a plunger stuck to the end of his giant nose, but couldn't find the rest of his comrades anywhere. Was this really the end?

"PK Freeze!"

"PK Flash!"

Mario looked up as he heard some of the Rabbids screech in pain, some of them smoldering, others now incased in ice. He looked over to see Fox and Falco, with Peach slung over Falco's shoulder, standing off to the side, a few scrapes to show from their struggle, and, standing off to the side were two little boys. They both had large blue eyes and striped shirts, but one had blond hair styled like Elvis's and the other had black hair covered by a red baseball cap, Lucas and Ness respectively. There were also four other familiar allies helping to ward off the remaining Rabbids, the mysterious cloaked and masked Meta Knight, the hammer swinging duet of Nana and Popo, better known as the Ice Climbers, and the last a familiar pink warrior Mario had fought on the Midair Stadium in the World of Trophies, Kirby. Kirby stopped his fight to run over to Luigi, putting a hand to the younger of the Mario Bros.'s arm, causing a bright flash of light to blind the Rabbids as Luigi returned to his flesh and blood form. The heroes then grouped together to fight off the remaining Rabbids...

...And the Rabbids screamed and started running away! Before the heroes could make heads or tails of what was happening, the Ice Climbers began to chase after the Rabbids, and the others, too stunned for words, began to follow.

"Where'd they go? Where'd they go?!" Nana and Popo looked around frantically, wondering where the Rabbids could have gone to. They'd been hot on their trail, so close Nana had actually managed to grab one's tail until it turned and bit her hand, and now they were gone, no white on the horizon, no screams of "Bla!" in the distance, gone without a trace. "But how...?"

"Hmm...Ice Climbers, huh? I was hoping for better lab rats than this... Well, as the saying goes, when life gives you lemons..." Nana and Popo turned, screaming as they recognized a tall man with fiery red hair, dark skin, black armor, and a glowing black gem in his hand glaring down at them. Ganondorf! He lifted the gem and it began to glow, the black and red mist flowing out and hovering between himself and the Ice Climbers. "Which one, which one? I suppose Popo is the strongest, but I'm sure Link wouldn't dare hurt little Nana if she attacked him..." Link? Why did that name sound so familiar? Wasn't he one of the ones who'd helped them in The Wilds when their group had been attacked by Primids? What did Ganondorf want with him? What did Ganondorf want with them?!

The Ice Climbers' unified thoughts were interrupted as the strange mist was pounded into Nana's body and she screamed, falling to the ground and crying out as black energy visibly shot through her entire being. "Popo, run...I can't...I can't..."

"What's going on?! Nana?!"

"It's too late, little boy. Your friend's mind and body belong to me now." Ganondorf lifted his right hand, a shimmering group of triangles reminiscent of the ones Popo had seen on Link's and Zelda's hands as well as parts of their armor and outfits began to glow and Nana collapsed to the ground. Popo was at her side in an instant, trying to shake her awake to no avail. He looked up to see Ganondorf's smug smile of satisfaction as he, too, walked over to Nana.

"Now, arise." Nana's eyes shot open and she quickly got up, kneeling in front of Ganondorf and lowering her lips to his boots.

"Yes, Lord Ganondorf. What are your orders, sire?"

"I want you to find Princess Zelda and that scum of a hero Link. Bring me back their Triforce pieces, and...bring Link back as well, alive, if possible," Ganondorf's eyes lowered to Popo, staring at his companion in a mixture of shock and fear, "But, before that, I'd like you to dispose of him."

"As you wish, Lord Ganondorf." Nana got to her feet, lifting her hammer and glaring at Popo. Her eyes were glowing a deep crimson hue, the same color as blood, and strange, black markings were snaking up her entire face. "Any and all enemies of Lord Ganondorf must perish."

"Nana? What's wrong with you? Nana?" But Nana wasn't listening. She lifted her hammer high above her head, and struck.

To Be Continued

By: Flock o' Seagulls


	3. Chapter 3

"I know this place! I know this place!! Hey, Link, I know this place! This is that one bridge we used to fight on; I hadn't known this was in Hyrule... That one guy on the giant pig isn't going to cross now, is he?"

"Guy on the- Oh, you mean King Bulblin? No, no, I took care of him. He's on our side now."

"Whoa, did you beat him up? You gotta tell me all about it!"

"Uh, well... See, it was several months ago, a little before the Subspace thing, actually, and King Bulblin had abducted my friends so I beat him up on this bridge, then fought him on a different bridge, then fought him in his hideout, then fought him in the castle, and he said he'd fight on my side."

"I didn't mean it like that! I mean, tell me about the fights! Please?"

Link sighed, looking back to see the ever hyper Pit gawking at the Eldin Bridge in Hyrule Field before turning his own attention back to the bridge they were about to cross over. They'd been riding for several hours, Link pointing out landmarks here and there and telling Pit the occasional story about his adventure to save Hyrule while Pit sometimes brought up his own adventures fighting the evil Medusa to save Palutena. While Link didn't exactly enjoy having to explain every little detail to Pit, he enjoyed the company. Ever since Midna had returned to the Twilight Realm it had usually been just Link and Epona- when Link managed to get rid of Navi, anyways- and, while Link and Epona were close, it still got lonely sometimes journeying for hours across Hyrule. Link sometimes found himself wondering if those myths he'd heard about being able to warp across Hyrule at lightning speed using music was true. It'd sure make life easier, being able to traverse Hyrule just by whistling a few tunes, and only riding Epona across Hyrule to keep her in shape or when he wanted a longer trip...

Once again Link realized he'd started daydreaming while Pit was talking to him-something about gathering Three Sacred Treasures or something along those lines-and couldn't help but wonder why he felt so...weird. He couldn't explain how or why, but all day long he'd had this horrible feeling in the pit of his stomach, and, while he hadn't admitted it to anyone else, the previous night he'd had a nightmare about Ganondorf, surrounded by some strange mist reminiscent of the kind that had transformed him into a wolf in the Twilight Realm. He'd dreamt of himself and everyone else he'd met in the World of Trophies trying to fight Ganondorf off, only for everyone else to disappear until it was just him and Ganondorf. They'd gone blade to blade, just as they had nearly a year ago in the War of Light and Shadow, until Ganondorf shot the mysterious mist into Link's body...

"Link? Link?! Hey, are you still with me?!" Link left the reverie of his nightmare, looking back to see Pit shaking his shoulders, pure horror and worry etched onto his face. He sighed in relief when he saw Link's confused stare, realizing Pit had stopped Epona so they were in the middle of the Eldin Bridge. "Geez, I thought you were going to drive us over the side of the bridge or something! And then that creepy thing you kept yelling..."

"Creepy thing?"

"Yeah, it sounded kind of like yuso day, or something weird like that..."

"'Yuso da-' Oh, I get it now! I was yelling 'uso da'... It's this ancient phrase for 'it's a lie'...Are you sure that's what I was saying? If you're lying, I'll make you swallow a thousand needles."

"Yeah, real mature, Link. I'm sure your girlfriend will gladly give you a thousand needles." Words to turn Link's face a light pink.

"What girlfriend?"

"Princess Zelda." Now Link's face was really red! It was all Pit could do to keep from falling off of Epona laughing.

"Z-Zelda?! Are you completely insane?! What gives you the idea she's my-"

"Well, first of all your face is the color of a tomato. Secondly, you seem to be on good terms with her, seeing as how you just called her by her first name instead of addressing her as 'Princess'. And lastly, we all know there's something going on between you two. I saw the way you two watched each other on the Halberd, not to mention how Kirby says all Princess Zelda talked about other than the attack on the stadium was you."

"Really?" Link shook his head as though to clear the thought of Zelda being in love with him and grabbed onto Epona's reins, turning away from Pit. "Forget it. I'm not talking about it anymore." Link kicked Epona in the sides, sending her galloping across the bridge, Pit staring over his friend's shoulder to see his face was still bright red.

"Say, Link-"

"I said I'm not talking about it anymore!"

"And I'm not either. I just wanna know why you were screaming that uso da thing earlier."

"Oh, that..." Link stared down at his left hand, the Triforce of Courage hidden by some sort of special leather he figured the Hero of Time had gotten to conceal the holy relic when he'd been its holder. Was it safe to tell Pit about his dream? It was just a nightmare, after all...

"Hey, stop!!" Link was jerked back into reality when Pit reached forward and grabbed the reins out of Link's hands, pulling back so the mare would reel up into the air and stop. Link looked back to ask what was wrong, but the look on Pit's face as he stared angrily forward over Link's shoulder said it all. Link looked ahead, too, seeing a large group of albino rabbits blocking off the other side of the bridge. They didn't look all that dangerous, but if Pit thought something wasn't right...

Link tugged on Epona's reins so she'd turn around, hoping they could avoid fighting on the bridge, only to find a bunch of the fluffy bunnies blocking that side, too! The small army began advancing, now revealing that many of them were actually wielding weapons. "Looks like we're trapped," Link unsheathed the Ordon Sword from his back, "Guess there's no choice, then. We'll have to fight if we want to get past here. Do you still have Palutena's Bow?"

"No; I gave it back as soon as I got back home."

Link dug around in the item bag at his side, producing his own Hero's Bow and a quiver stocked with fifty arrows. "Will this do?" Pit took the bow, firing a test shot at the far end of the bridge, nodding in satisfaction when he hit his mark.

"Seems fine. You ready?" Link nodded, tugging back on Epona's reins so she was facing their destination and snapping the reins hard against her neck, sending her galloping toward the rabbits.

However, to the amazement of both of them, the rabbit army stopped on both sides, leaving Epona little room to move. The strange animals glanced around, looking...confused about something. One of the rabbits, the one dressed up like Superman, not that Link would get the reference, dared to waddle forward, causing Link to tense up while Pit shrank back in fear. It looked up at Epona first, sniffing her front legs, then moved on to Link, grabbing the hand with the Ordon Sword clutched tightly in it and turning it every which way. He took off Link's gauntlet and stared in awe at the glowing Triforce of Courage before pointing an accusatory finger at Link and shouting "Hwaa!!", causing the hero to tense up even more. What the heck was that thing, and what did it want with him? The annoying scream lasted for nearly a minute before the rabbit noticed the hidden Pit behind Link and went over to him. It inspected his right hand as it had Link's left hand, later shouting "Hwaa!" again, but not nearly as loudly as it had when it saw Link's hand.

Link wasn't sure what he was expecting to happen. Were they going to be taken hostage? Would they be killed on the spot? Well, whatever he was expecting, it was nowhere near what actually happened.

The rabbit had moved on from Pit as it had Link, moving on to Epona's backside. It inspected her this way and that before noticing the swishing white tail repeatedly hitting each of her legs like a pendulum. The rabbit made a strange sound that almost sounded like it said "Huh?", grabbed the tail gently in its paws, and tugged tightly. Epona whinnied in protest, lifting up her back legs and letting her hooves connect with a furry little face, causing the rabbit to go flying across the bridge screaming "Hwaa!" before it turned into a star in the distance. The other rabbits and Link and Pit watched Super Bunny disappear before the rabbits turned to Epona, got scared out of their fuzzy little minds, and ran away from the bridge as fast as their stubby legs would allow them to. Link blinked, more than a little surprised that that was all it took to get rid of the rabbits and glad that it was over...until he noticed what those things seemed to have wanted: the Triforce.

"Link?"

The hero gritted his teeth, turning Epona sharply around toward the main part of Eldin Province and forcing her forward without offering his angelic friend an explanation.

"Hey, wait...for...me!" Pit called ahead, wheezing as he fell to his knees and checked to see his progress. Zelda's and Link's native people were twisted folks to have built buildings with so many freaking stairs! Looking ahead Pit saw Link hadn't even slowed down for a second since they'd arrived in Castle Town at the center of Hyrule, and he was already at the top of the stairs while Pit was only halfway up the second staircase of the castle's final floor. "Link! Not...all of us...are used...to doing...this!"

"If you're going to complain, use your wings!"

"My- Oh, right." Not a single flap of his wings for three hours, and Pit nearly forgot he even had them. Pit beat the white wings together carefully until he got a feel for using them again and lifted himself off of the floor, flying up beside Link. Taking a look at his fellow Smasher, he noticed an angry expression on Link's face he'd only seen one other time-when Link thought Mario and Pit had captured Zelda. 'Maybe that's what's wrong,' Pit quietly thought, speeding up so he came to the door to the throne room before Link could. He pushed up on the door to make it open (another thing about the people of Hylia he'd never understand), and walked out onto the balcony overlooking the castle courtyard. The fresh air and warm wind felt good after ten minutes of nonstop stair climbing...until Pit walked forward and looked behind him to find...more stairs. "Oh, come on!" Pit sighed, nearly collapsing from exhaustion at the mere thought of more of this arduous workout. Even fighting Medusa hadn't made him suffer this badly.

"Calm down. These are the last stairs," Link called over angrily, climbing the stairs without a second thought while Pit sluggishly followed. Luckily there were no signs of those weird bunnies anywhere near town or in any other part of the castle, but that didn't necessarily mean it was safe yet. Not to mention Zelda would be interested to hear that some insane, mutated bunnies were after the Triforce instead of Ganondorf.

"Halt!" Link looked up, eyes widening as he barely dodged a sword swing that would have decapitated him otherwise. "No trespassers shall go beyond this point!" Another lightning fast attack nearly struck Link, only this time he pulled out his sword in the Mortal Draw, causing the attacks to neutralize each other. Before Link could even pull out his shield another quick forward jab was delivered by his assailant, forcing him to jump to the side and deliver his own blow. His blade met with his enemy's and he heard a strange shout before his sword was pushed backwards and he stumbled from the attack, leaving him open to yet another fast attack.

Or so the assailant thought.

Link dodged to the side again, rolled, and came up behind his foe for the Back Slice, who, miraculously, became encircled by a blue bubble that absorbed the attack. The bubble was dropped and the attacker went in for another blow, this time stopping for a moment and pulling his blade back before delivering...a Smash Attack! Link barely managed to put up his own Shield, his a green bubble, before the attack connected, pushing Link several feet back. Link heard his opponent gasp and push his sword forward again, this time causing their swords to collide. Through his adrenaline Link almost didn't bother to see just who he was fighting, but what he did see was nothing but blue cloth, and if not for the battle Link probably would have realized exactly who his opponent was. However, Link didn't process his opponent's identity, nor did his opponent process Link's identity. They both only knew one thing: Someone was near the Princess of Hyrule, and that someone needed to be destroyed.

Meanwhile, Pit had finally made it up the steps, albeit over dramatically flopping onto his stomach as he gasped for air and praying to Palutena he wasn't going to die. He heard swords clashing in the distant corners of the throne room and looked up to see Link fending off another man dressed in blue with equally colored eyes and hair. "The Prince of...?"

"Aether!!" Pit looked up, eyes widening as he saw a familiar blade, Ragnell, fly through the air, and an equally familiar swordsman garbed in a blue tunic, white leggings, and a red cape jump up after it, spin twice, and come down directly toward him! Pit rolled out of the way, surprised to look up and see a pair of dark blue eyes shaded behind bluish-purple hair turn to glare at him as if they were enemies. "Anyone who dares to enter the royal throne room without permission will perish. Say your prayers, trespasser-"

"Ike?" Ike looked down, as surprised to see the Captain of Palutena's Army as Pit was to see the Commander of the Greil Mercenaries.

"Pit?" Ike offered the angel his hand, who gladly took it and got to his feet. "I thought for sure you were some assassin."

"It's okay. Looks like that's what Link and Marth thought of each other, too."

Without warning Marth, the crown Prince of Altea, went in for a finishing blow for Link while Link did a jump attack, causing what reminded Link of the "Chance" attacks against Ganondorf nearly a year ago. The two swordsmen glared hatefully at each other, when they suddenly realized who they both were and ceased their attacks.

"Link?"

"Marth?" The two swordsmen stared at each other with the same shocked awe as Ike and Pit had each other. Until... "Bishie boy prince!!"

"Transvestite common filth!!" And the sparks were flying again.

"They really missed each other, huh?" Ike asked sarcastically, secretly amused by how much Link and Marth hated each other even though they'd only crossed paths once.

"That's enough!" A commanding voice called from beside Pit and Ike, causing everyone to look up to see the next Queen of Hyrule herself, Zelda. Ike and Marth instantly dropped to their knees in reverence causing them to get confused looks from Pit and Link. Ike was one thing-at least he was loyal to anyone he befriended-but Marth, the self-centered Altean prince, bowing to another person? Zelda walked into the throne room silently, glancing from the cracks in the floor made by Ike to the deep scratches in the marble caused by Link. "I see I made a mistake thinking I could leave you in charge, Prince Marth. Looks like more work for the carpenters." Marth blushed bright red, muttering his apologies so only Zelda and Link heard him, "Of course, I suppose this was destined to happen eventually, given Link's unpredictable habit of destroying other people's properties," Zelda looked up, winking at the Hero of Twilight, "Yes, when Midna's heart and mind were one with mine, I saw everything she did and shared her memories. I'm sure Barnes can't wait to hear what happened to his storage building, or Renado how you broke holes in the buildings in Kakariko Village, or Impaz the times you shattered windows in the Hidden Village, and it was thanks in part to you that the castle was destroyed in the first place..."

"I get the point! Yeesh!" Link yelled, blushing even worse than Marth was. Pit and Ike were fighting down laughter.

Zelda smiled, waving it off as a trifle. "I was only kidding, Chosen Hero. So, what is it that brings you here...with Pit?"

"Huh? Oh, well...How do we put this delicately..."

"We were ambushed by bunnies!" Link turned to stare at Pit like he was crazy, but, to his surprise, Zelda didn't find this explanation nearly as ridiculous as Link did. "They surrounded us on the Eldin Bridge, and this one came up to us and sniffed our hands. Then it saw Epona and pulled on her tail, and she kicked it across the field!"

"These 'bunnies', were they white...with red eyes?"

"Yeah, how did you-"

"As luck would have it," Zelda reached into the item bag on her belt, pulling out none other than Super Bunny, who had two red hoof marks in his face and was tied up with magical ropes, "I found this little guy while I was in town. I decided to do a little research, and I discovered he is a 'Rabbid'. They're like rabbits, but they're highly intelligent. They enjoy kidnaping people and torturing them for their own amusement," Zelda placed the Rabbid down on the floor, who proceeded to spin around dizzily, "Some of the Rabbids even have names. This little guy, for instance, is Clark."

"But that doesn't explain what...Clark...wanted with us," Pit reasoned.

"Isn't it obvious? The Rabbids, for whatever reason, want the Triforce."

"No," Link stated firmly, grabbing Clark by his ears and pulling him back up, "If the Rabbids wanted the Triforce, they could have taken it when we were on the Eldin Bridge. They're after something else, but-" Link suddenly gasped, doubling over in pain and dropping Clark back onto the floor. Clark's ropes came undone and the little Rabbid was able to escape, seeming to laugh triumphantly in Zelda's direction before scurrying out of the throne room faster than Pit or Ike could catch it.

"Pit! Marth!" Zelda commanded, Marth speeding after the Rabbid faster than the speed of light while Pit sighed and ran after him. Pit grabbed Marth by the hand, taking off so that he flew off of the balcony and left Zelda and Ike with Link...

"Yes, that's it. Dance for me, you fools," Ganondorf cooed, watching with sadistic delight through three different orbs the struggles of the heroes. In one orb he saw Pit and Marth flying through the air, chasing after Clark while in the second he saw Mario and his group of Smashers chasing the very group of Rabbids Epona had scared away. The third was the one that held Ganondorf enthralled, the one where he had a front row seat to Zelda's growing panic attack as Ike did all he could to medically assist Link. Funny; Ganondorf figured that with the Triforce of Wisdom, Zelda would have realized Link's mysterious attack was a diversion created by Ganondorf to allow Clark's escape. Couldn't let his plans be uncovered that quickly... With a wave of his hand this view was enlarged so Ganondorf could hear exactly what was going on as well as see.

"Link?! Link, are you all right?!" Zelda screamed.

Link writhed in agony, one hand clenching his chest while the other held Ike's arm in a vice-like grip, preventing him from helping the suffering hero. "Zel..." Link choked out, letting go of Ike and instead grabbing Zelda's arm, "Zel...Ganon..."

Ganondorf's eyes widened, and he tightened his right hand, causing Link's chest to constrict tighter and making him scream. As long as the Triforce of Courage protected him this was the worst Ganondorf could do without it being traced back to him, but it seemed Link was still vulnerable enough for it to work better than expected. A small trail of blood found its way out of Link's mouth as his choked breaths were forced in and out, and Ganondorf decided this would be a good place to end this spell. He flattened his hand out and what would appear to anyone else as a severe heart attack abruptly cut to an end, leaving Link breathless as he slowly released Zelda's arm. He watched in amused satisfaction as Link lost consciousness, softly muttering in an ancient tongue outdating even Ancient Hylian, "Corruptio optimi pessima...Non sum qualis eram..." Before Ganondorf could even understand what his enemy had said that orb darkened and the image disappeared, leaving the other two orbs in its place.

"That should do." Ganondorf decided, waving a hand. Clark and the other Rabbids disappeared from within the orbs to take their places beside Ganondorf, leaving two groups of confused heroes. Mario sighed angrily, glaring ahead at where the army had last been. Fox and Falco, however, were smirking, and into view came the Great Fox before that orb also went black and disappeared. Pit and Marth were also left flabbergasted by the Rabbid Clark's disappearance, when Marth suddenly pulled a strange sphere from his pocket Ganondorf recognized as a Fairy Orb, a Hyrulian device that enabled its user to converse with others, bring up maps, record data, and probably perform other functions no one knew about.

"Prince Marth, this is Princess Zelda. Did you find Clark?"

"Yeah, but he disappeared. We don't know what happened."

"How's Link? What exactly happened to him?" Pit asked, taking the magical orb from Marth.

"It's complicated. The best explanation we have is that he had a heart attack, but... he's fine now. It's like nothing happened. Which is why I know something's going on. I need you both to come back as soon as possible."

"Yes, ma'am." And Marth switched off the Fairy Orb, leaving him and Pit in estranged silence during the flight back.

Ganondorf grinned. "Perfect." He waved his hand, causing the final orb to fade away so he was left with a black cauldron. He turned on his heel, looking out at the darkness surrounding him. In a mirror in the far corner of the room was a blurry reflection of Nana making her way through Kanto, her entire body now warped by the evil of Ganondorf's stone. "Diabolus Angelus," Ganondorf commanded, causing Nana to turn and bow respectfully to him, "you are from ancient times, so you remember the Terran tongue, no?"

"Yes, my lord."

"Then translate this for me: Corruptio optimi pessima, non sum qualis eram."

"That would mean," Nana paused, then finished curtly, "'The corruption of the best is the worst of all. I am not what I used to be.' Why, my lord?"

Ganondorf smirked, "Interesting. He takes after his predecessor."

"My lord?"

"I promise you will not have to suffer in that miserable shell for long, my darling, but you will have to wait a while longer before I can bring you a more worthy vessel. Can you do that for me?"

"Yes...My lord."

"That a girl," Ganondorf turned to Clark now, who was staring at the cauldron with some of the other Rabbids and trying to figure out how to turn it back on, "Clark," came the simple command. The Rabbid stood at attention, saluting his current leader, "There's someone else we need to take care of before the true plans can commence. Release Serguei and return to Hyrule with him immediately. Understood?"

"Hwaa!!" Clark yelled, running toward the distant dungeons...not before smacking face-first into an invisible wall, of course.

"Now, the real fun can begin."

To Be Continued

**About this chapter...I'm glad it turned out as long as it did; I checked on the computer and Chapter 2 was only 21.1 KB while Chapter 1 was 21.8 KB long. That's .7 KB shorter! .7 KB SHORTER!!! I actually started this a little after I got Brawl during the state graduation test (I held playing the game over my studies so that I couldn't play until the test was finished; that was the worst week of my life, even if I did do so good that I got fifty bucks from the school for it!), and I started typing it up that same week. I worked on it for about a month and then stopped because I couldn't think of anything to type, then we finally got the internet working, and the rest, as they say, is history!**

**Other Notes of Interest: I realized it wasn't The Wilds when "The Five Warriors" takes place; it's The Canyon. I don't own Smash Bros. except a copy of Melee and Brawl; I just own the ability to hallucinate from hot wing overdose. And thanks to Captain Black Knight for loving my story enough to add it to an alert and review it! And please, other people, review...Or I'll KILL LINK!!!**

**Link: You wouldn't dare!**

**Me: Wanna try me, McHottie?**

**Link: This three foot strip of metal on my back says you wouldn't!**

**Me: Oh, really? You remember that other story 'The Original Hero' in the Zelda section on this site? I killed you once, I'll do it again!**

**Link: Okay, okay, threaten my life for your own personal gain; just don't use some weird plot device on me again!**

**Me: You heard the man! Review or the McHottie kicks the bucket!**


	4. Chapter 4

"Oh...my...What have you been doing to these poor dears?!"

Satoshi grimaced, unwillingly accepting every piece of criticism that could be thrown at him; he did deserve it, after all. He glanced down at his hands, which were folded patiently in his lap, muttering softly, "Um...There were a few fights...We went up against some guy named Wario then I had to attack Charizard... and there was this thing called Galleom, then we tried to help fight Tabuu..."

"That's no excuse!" Satoshi flinched as Nurse Joy turned to him, her sweet, kindly looking exterior betrayed by the fire in her eyes, "If Ash and Shigeru find out what you've been up to, they'll skin you alive and roast you for this! Is this any way to treat your Pokemon?!" Nurse Joy stepped out of the way to reveal the three Pokemon before her, causing Satoshi to cast his gaze down again. Months had passed since Tabuu was defeated, but Charizard, Squirtle, and Ivysaur hadn't been making much progress in their recovery in that time. Satoshi was the first to take on Tabuu in their battle, but even using Triple Finish he and his Pokemon were thrown out of the battle in a mere five minutes before Link stepped in for his turn against the evil being. While they'd been taken to the infirmary set up on the Falcon Flyer-and, much to Satoshi's extreme embarrassment, he was deemed well enough to help when Link and Pit were dragged in and Mario limped in nearly an hour later- the Pokemon had been unable to make a full recovery, even when they were returned to their Poke Balls or Lucas kindly gave Satoshi the last of the Team Healers to use on them. In an act of desperation he'd searched out Nurse Joy, the most well praised Pokemon care giver he knew, and decided she was fit to heal them.

If only he'd known in advance about the three hour lecture that would follow his return...

"Honestly, some Pokemon Trainer you are!" Joy tsked in disgust, washing her hands before covering them in latex gloves and walking back to her injured patients. She took Squirtle gently into her arms, massaging him to search out any broken bones or internal injuries, "To think Ash would trust you with this poor, little baby!"

"You can heal them, right?" Satoshi asked hopefully, ducking his head in shame. The pink haired nurse nodded and Satoshi weakly smiled. At least he hadn't completely failed, "Thank you."

"Don't go thanking me just yet, hon. It'll take me a few days before they're back in top health. If you're planning on going into any battles, you'd better find some other sap to give up their precious hard work to you!"

"I said I didn't mean to get them hurt..." Satoshi sweat dropped. It was amazing how persistent she was to rub Satoshi's failure in his face, "I'll come back in a few days to get them. Than-Uh, see you later."

"Bye, dear!" And just like that she could go back to being as sweet as could be... Satoshi got up and walked to the door, stopping to look back at his beloved companions before walking out into the cool night air of Kanto.

"Idiot!" Satoshi yelled, garnering attention from pedestrians toward the young trainer sitting on a bench outside of the famous stadium. He replayed the final battle with Tabuu again and again in his mind, trying to figure out just what he'd done wrong to cause him to lose so quickly. He saw Tabuu curl into a ball as energy gathered into his wings for yet another shockwave, so to counter he broke open a Smash Ball and yelled out, "Take this! Triple Finish!" All three of his beloved companions appeared from out of their Poke Balls to use their ultimate attack, but that was when Tabuu struck all four of them full force, throwing them all back into the Great Maze. Somehow Satoshi managed to land in Samus's arms while Donkey Kong caught Charizard, Ivysaur, and Squirtle, and the last thing he remembered before blacking out was hearing Captain Falcon kindly say, "Nice work, kid."

He woke up nearly half an hour later in the Falcon Flyer to find himself being attended to by Princess Peach and King Dedede. He looked to the left to find, much to his horror, his precious Pokemon being treated by Waddle Dees, Ivysaur shivering while Charizard roared when antiseptic was pressed into their wounds. But what broke Satoshi the most was finding Squirtle, his best friend entrusted to him by his idol, unconscious and groaning in pain. Worst of all, Satoshi barely had a scratch to show from the fight, but he was the one receiving most of the attention.

"Idiot!!" Satoshi screamed again, beating his fists against the bench before covering his face with his hands and sighing angrily. No matter how many times he looked at the fight, the only flaw he saw was himself. If it had been Ash in there instead of him- heck if it had been Shigeru instead of him- things could have ended much better. Ash was a legend all over their world- he earned all of his badges and became a Pokemon Master before he reached thirteen; Satoshi was fourteen and had barely managed to obtain one badge. Ash had seen and caught more Pokemon than he could count; Satoshi only had three Pokemon, and one of them was actually a gift...from Ash! Putting Ash in there in place of himself, those same five minutes Satoshi spent fighting for his life would be the five minutes it would take Ash to obliterate Tabuu! Link, Pit, and Mario wouldn't even have needed to get involved, and Satoshi knew how grateful they'd have been to stay out of the fight...

"Idiot!!!" Satoshi yelled for the final time, though it was muffled by his hands and the cheer of the crowd inside of the stadium. The self-loathing trainer looked up at the large screen that allowed most of Kanto to see the fight without having to enter the stadium, staring on in shock as he caught sight of one of the combatants. Rising from his bench, Satoshi ran into the stadium, quickly flashing his badge to prove his status as a Trainer before he ran to the entrance to the main stage. Bright light blinded Satoshi as he looked forward, finding none other than his idol, Ash, using his famous Pikachu-the same Pikachu Satoshi had the honor of fighting beside during the Subspace Emissary- against Misty and her equally famous Togepi. Togepi looked incredibly worn down but the egg shaped Pokemon refused to give up, as did its master.

Ash smiled softly at his friend, giving Pikachu a final command to use Thunder Jolt. It struck Togepi, knocking the little creature aside and unconscious, but not causing a visible wound. Ash was immediately declared the winner. Satoshi, needless to say, was in awe of his idol's strategy.

"Eh, don't worry 'bout it, Toshi!" Satoshi gasped, spinning around only to get hit in the face by a green and white Poke Ball before it flew back into its owner's hand, "You just started training, what, four year ago? It'll be a while before you get as good as Ash. It took him long enough...Hey, are you okay?"

Satoshi growled, reaching into his bag for something, anything, to clobber the young man garbed in blue before him, "You have ten seconds to give me a good reason why I shouldn't just beat you into the ground right now! And how many times do I have to tell you to stop reading my mind?!!" But Satoshi could hardly stay mad at his childhood friend. Shigeru, grandson of the famous Professor Oak of Pallet Town. They'd grown up together until Satoshi decided he wanted to become a Pokemon Master like the famous Ash and left for Kanto when he turned ten. They looked and acted just like brothers, and one of them always knew what was on the other's mind.

"Yeesh, is that any way to talk to your bestest friend? I came here on a rumor that you came back from the World of Trophies with a couple of fresh Pokemon, so I figured 'Why not see what Toshi's up to?' so here I am!"

Satoshi sighed sadly, gazing into the ring where he could see Ash taking on none other than his biggest rivals, Team Rocket, "Unfortunately, my Pokemon aren't doing so well. Out of all thirty-five of us there, I was the first against Tabuu...and I lost in five minutes, even when I used Triple Finish. Three of the others had to take my place, and two of them were badly hurt. I'm sure you know who won out in the end."

"Mario?! You met Mario?! Dude, he's, like, a legend! What's he like in real life?!" Satoshi sweat dropped as Shigeru got into his face, eyes twinkling with childish wonder.

"Um...really spaced out, actually. We had to yell his name to get him to pay attention to anything."

"Just like you, huh, Toshi?" Satoshi glared at his friend, who raised his hands in surrender, "Just kiddin'! But wow...Mario was fighting by your side...That's better than if Ash was fighting beside you."

"He kind of was, actually; his Pikachu was there."

"Yeah, but...Mario!"

"You're obsessed."

"Not as obsessed as you are over Ash."

Satoshi blushed bright red, "Listen, you, I-" But Satoshi's voice was drowned out by the roar of the crowd. Shigeru and Satoshi turned to see what the commotion was about, finding Ash and Pikachu standing alone while Team Rocket and their Meowth disappeared as stars in the distance. Just like any Smasher did when they were sent flying into the background once they were defeated. "Looks like Ash won again. He's unstoppable tonight."

"Until now." Satoshi turned to his friend, confused, until he heard from the speakers above:

"Will challenger Satoshi please come to the main arena? Again, challenger Satoshi, to the arena."

"Challenger...?" Satoshi turned on Shigeru, eyes lit yellow and body burning red. He looked as if he could perform his Final Smash at any second, "You signed me up for a match?!"

"You need to get over your inferiority complex sometime, right? What better time than during a fight with your idol?"

"Do you ever think before you act?! Even if I wanted to take on Ash, which I don't, I don't have any Pokemon!"

"Taken care of, li'l Toshi. Huh...I just noticed your nickname is like Toshiro from Bleach without the ro on the end... which is technically an honorific for Japanese boys' names and really could have been left off. Did you know your nickname means-"

"Geru!"

"Sorry, just musing out loud again," Shigeru flashed Satoshi a cocky smile, lifted the very same Friend Ball he'd thrown into Satoshi's face earlier, and placed it in his friend's hand, "Just this morning I caught the answer to all of your troubles. Found this little guy wandering around outside of the city. Took me forever to beat him for you."

"Geru, you didn't have to-"

"This is the last call for challenger Satoshi! You have ten seconds to get to the stage before we disqualify you!" Satoshi jumped, turning toward the stage again to see Ash looking around for his opponent.

"That's your cue. Go get him, ice lion!" Shigeru practically shoved Satoshi onto the stage, causing the young trainer to stumble and nearly fall in front of not only his idol but also hundreds of Pokemon fans. He fixed his by then signature red and white cap, looking back to see Shigeru flashing him a thumbs up with that same stupid grin frozen on his face. Satoshi managed a weak smile back in his direction though in reality he felt like he was going to pass out.

"Satoshi? Long time no see!" Satoshi jumped, turning to see Ash grinning at him, and Pikachu waving to him and yelling excited "Pika! Pika!!"s his way. Ash remembered his name?

"H-Hello, Ash. How are-"

"Trainers, take your positions! Ready? Battle!" The announcer boomed. Satoshi barely had time to blink before...

"Pikachu, use Skull Bash." Satoshi jerked his head around, barely ducking in time to avoid Pikachu's head colliding with his. The Pokemon landed behind Satoshi, and in a panic, he turned to look at Shigeru, who was frantically pointing at his own right hand and jumping up and down. The young Trainer looked down, realizing he still held Shigeru's Friend Ball, and threw it down, starting to yell his traditional cry of "Go," and then his Pokemon's name, but he stopped himself when he realized that he had no idea what Shigeru could possibly have given him. The special Poke Ball popped open and the traditional red flash flew out onto the stage, but when he saw the Pokemon standing before him, he, as well as Ash, Pikachu, and the entire crowd gasped in shock at the sight before them.

"You gave me Mewtwo?!!" Satoshi screamed at his best friend, causing thousands of eyes to turn to Shigeru at the stage entrance.

"What's wrong with that? He's legendary, he's strong, he's got psychic powers-"

"He's evil!!"

"Hence, he was put in a Friend Ball! Why can't you just enjoy the beautiful bounty life throws at you?"

"Because my best friend is a moron, that's why!"

Ash felt a sweat drop roll down the back of his head as Satoshi and Shigeru argued over the morality of so much as looking for Mewtwo, much less catching him, for the next four minutes, Shigeru taking it all as a joke while Satoshi yelled loud enough people outside of the stadium could hear him. Finally, the Pokemon Master couldn't take the wait anymore and cut in, "Sorry to butt in where I don't belong, but Mewtwo's already here, so you'd may as well make the most of him, Satoshi. Especially since it doesn't look like you have any other Pokemon to use."

Ash immediately regretted saying anything when Satoshi turned toward him to reveal an angry scowl on his face as well as his "Final Smash look", "What did you say?" He asked slowly, his voice low and making him even scarier. Now it was Shigeru's turn to sweat drop, "Are you saying you want to fight me?"

"Um...That is why we're here."

"Well, let's fight, then." Satoshi fully turned to face his opponent and Shigeru let out a breath he hadn't realized he'd been holding, "Don't think you're safe yet, Shigeru Gary Oak Okiido. As soon as I beat Ash, I'm opening a can of whoop ass and pouring it all over your face!!" Satoshi lifted his Poke Ball, continuing his harsh whispering at, "Mewtwo, use Disable, then go in with Shadow Ball." The psychic Pokemon nodded, craning his neck forward and shooting a narrow, yellow beam from his mind that rendered Pikachu immobile. He then cupped his hands together and began to form a ball of dark energy that, thanks to Satoshi's anger, grew three times its normal size so it was as big as Mewtwo's torso. The dark Pokemon shot the object at Pikachu, engulfing the little creature's entire body before he ended up falling to the ground, unconscious.

"Pikachu!" Ash yelled, getting down beside his mouse Pokemon and cradling him in his arms. "Pikachu, are you okay?!"

"Pika..." Pikachu said, surprisingly not nearly as hurt as Ash had expected, though he was now bruised and thoroughly exhausted. Ash patted his head, lifting himself to his feet. He nodded to the booth and seconds later it was announced:

"This game's winner is...Satoshi!" Ash clapped in a show of good sportsmanship, but Satoshi was hardly paying attention as he turned to Shigeru, who looked about ready to collapse out of fear.

"When I'm through with you, you'll wish you'd never been born, Geru!"

"C-Come on, Toshi; let's talk about this like mature, responsible men-"

"There's nothing to talk about, you dumbass!" Satoshi yelled, causing Shigeru to jump. The earlier comment wasn't that bad, but Satoshi rarely ever cussed, even at his angriest in fights. He was obviously really, really upset with Shigeru. He began storming his way over to his best friend to murder him when-

"Hwaa!!"

-Satoshi stopped, glancing over to see a group of fuzzy, white bunnies filing into the stands with maces, clubs, sausages, and popcorn bags, staring wide eyed down at Satoshi. The Rabbids blocked off the exits, pushing Shigeru forward onto the stage before they blocked that exit as well. Satoshi glanced around the arena, gritting his teeth in frustration as the Rabbids slowly cornered Ash, Shigeru, and himself into a tiny ring. The three Pokemon users- one Master, one Trainer, and one Researcher- lifted their Poke Balls to command their own Pokemon- though, considering Shigeru was stupid enough to catch Mewtwo, who knew what he'd have- when a low voice rang out,

"I wouldn't do that if I were you, boys."

Satoshi turned, sucking in a deep, ice cold breath as he caught sight of a young woman clad in a black parka that covered her arms up to her elbows and stopped just short of her stomach, a tight black skirt, leather boots, and leather gauntlets and carrying a large, black mallet over her shoulders walking their way, the Rabbids parting in her wake. She had long, dark brown hair and dark red eyes, along with countless black markings all over her skin. She stopped just in front of Satoshi, smiled down at him, and said in a voice so casual it made Satoshi want to punch her teeth in, "Long time no see, Red."

"Um...Do I know you?"

" 'Do I know you'?" The woman took one hand off the mallet, putting it to her chest and making a face as if she were offended, "Are you saying you don't recognize little ol' me? Maybe this'll help," The woman stood back, lifting her mallet directly in front of her face and saying in a strangely childish and eerily familiar voice, "Yerp!"

It didn't take Satoshi long to figure it out, "Nana?!"

"Bingo," The former Ice Climber gingerly put a hand to Satoshi's chin, placing her face close enough to his their noses almost touched, "You like what you see?" Satoshi slapped Nana's hand away, trying to keep his face from heating with a blush, "Now, is that any way to treat a lady?"

"What the heck happened to you?!" Satoshi was visibly trembling, both from rage and fear. This wasn't, couldn't be Nana. The Nana Satoshi knew was a little girl in pink who was incredibly shy and couldn't go anywhere without Popo at her side.

"Isn't it obvious, li'l Toshi? I managed to grow up. Lord Ganondorf gave me the power to awaken my true potential. All I needed was to give him my body as a vessel," Nana grabbed Satoshi's face again, this time holding down his free hand with hers and causing her mallet to drop to the floor of the stadium, "Would you like me to awaken your true potential, Satoshi?" Satoshi swallowed. His true potential? "I can make you the strongest man alive. Think about it-the ability to crush opponents with a mere glare. All I need is your body."

"I-I-"

"Pikachu, use Thunder!!" Satoshi jumped as Nana pulled away, screaming as electricity shot through her body. He turned to find Ash, eyes set on Nana with a death glare as Pikachu's cheeks crackled with electricity, "Get a hold of yourself! I don't know who that used to be, but that's not who it is now!"

"Clever boy," Nana smirked, rising to her feet and flipping her hair behind her shoulders, "That's right. Your friend 'Nana' belongs to me now. It's a shame you won't join me, Satoshi. Nana always had a little crush on you." Nana reached down to pick up her mallet, smiling at the stunned Trainer, "Too bad Lord Ganondorf's orders were to kill any Smasher who wouldn't join him. But I figured you goody-goodies would never choose the side of evil."

"Nana..."

"I told you, Nana is mine now. As we speak her soul is being suffocated by mine. In a few hours, she'll most likely pass on."

"What?! Let her go!"

"Yeah, sorry, I'm afraid that's not an option. See, if you want Nana back, you'll have to kill her, but, if you kill Nana, I'll just have to possess you. And then your friends over there would have to kill you, and I'd possess one of them, and he'd have to get killed, and I'd have the possess the last of your friends..."

"Shut up!" Satoshi looked up, tears sliding down his cheeks, "You monster, you'll never get away with this! Mewtwo, use-"

"I wouldn't do that," Nana disappeared in a ray of black light, reappearing behind Shigeru and pulling him into a headlock, "So much as attempt to stop me, and your friend dies," Nana lowered her face to Shigeru's until her lips were barely an inch from his, a strange, black mist that occasionally sparkled orange leaving her mouth and entering his. The Researcher screamed, his body outlined with black as it slowly but surely began to shrivel up.

"Shigeru!" Satoshi grimaced, realizing he was powerless to stop Nana from killing his best friend. 'Come on, there has to be something I can do...Anything...' Satoshi gasped as he felt something roll down beside his foot, looking down to see an empty Poke Ball. He picked it up, realizing it was Pikachu's, and looked to Ash. He was mouthing something it took Satoshi a moment to understand, but once he realized what it was, he almost danced with joy. Instead he turned back to Nana and Shigeru, finding Shigeru was practically reduced to skin and bones, and quickly but surely screamed, "Pikachu, use your Final Smash! Volt Tackle!!" Pikachu and Satoshi both began glowing red, the Pokemon encased in a ball of electricity and quickly flying into Nana. He smashed her in the chest, causing her to go flying across the stage with Shigeru in tow, but also causing her to cease her attack on him. Shigeru appeared unconscious as Pikachu continued slamming into Nana's body, thus igniting her with electricity. The ball expanded to encase the entire stage, leaving Satoshi in blinding white space. His hair stood on end from the electricity in the air, and he heard Pikachu's angry screams as he continued attacking. There was a sudden high pitched scream- whether it was Nana, Pikachu, or Shigeru was anyone's guess- before the light began to dim and the stadium returned to normal.

It took Satoshi's eyes a moment to adjust to the night's darkness again, but when he did the sight he saw was nothing short of shocking. Nana, completely unharmed, stood over an unconscious Pikachu and held Shigeru in her arms. She was still possessed of whatever had her, and when she turned to look at Satoshi, her eyes were completely red. "I told you not to interfere," Nana smiled, running a hand over Shigeru's gaunt face, "My, my this one is handsome. He'll make a wonderful addition to Lord Ganondorf's collection," Nana dared to kiss Shigeru's pale, bleeding lips, leaving Satoshi infuriated, "If you ever want to see your friend alive again, come find me. Until next time, Toshi." Nana disappeared in a swirl of black and orange mist, taking Shigeru with her, and Satoshi collapsed to his knees in shock. Ash walked over to Pikachu, calling him back into his Poke Ball before he went to Satoshi's side, crouching down beside him and pulling him into a comforting embrace.

"I'm sorry. I should have done more to help."

"No, you did more than enough. I'm the one who could have been more helpful."

"Will you chase after her?"

"How can I? It isn't exactly like I know where she-"

"Hwaa!!" Satoshi glanced up, realizing the Rabbids were still there, staring at the stage strangely. One of them, wearing what looked like a turban made out of a diaper on his head, jumped onto the stage, jumping up and down excitedly and pointing to himself, then at the exit. He ran to the exit Shigeru had been standing in during the battle, jumping again and pointing out the door.

"It wants me to follow it," Satoshi forced a smile, managing to get to his feet, "Looks like that solves that dilemma."

"What if it's a trap?"

"Then I'll fall into a trap."

"Satoshi..." Ash sighed, getting to his feet and grabbing Satoshi's hand to turn it palm up. He placed the Poke Ball containing Pikachu in his hand, as well as five other Poke Balls from his pocket. "It doesn't look like I can change your mind about this. These should help you if you get yourself into a pinch. Be careful, Toshi."

"Th-Thank you," Satoshi ran after the Rabbid, the loud cheering of the crowd drowning out everything but a single call after him saying,

"Come back safely, kiddo!!"

Satoshi trembled against the cold air as he followed the Rabbids to wherever they were taking him, Mewtwo following close behind him. Nothing fueled the trainer but his determination to save his best friend.

To Be Continued

**Phew, sorry for the long wait; it took me forever to come up with a beginning for this chapter. I wanted to make this chapter focus on The Pokemon Trainer, but I had the ending thought up totally different from how I actually wrote it; I blame the fact I've been reading through my old Sailor Moon manga and watching Charmed again. (So based Evil Nana off of Black Lady from Sailor Moon and Terra from the Charmed episode 'Coyote Piper'). I hope I get the next Chapter up faster than this one... And, big shocker, I actually started cussing this Chapter!! Now, who's up for some sex scenes? Just kiddin'!**

**I in no way own Super Smash Bros., except a copy of Melee for my GameCube and a copy of Brawl for my Wii. If I did, Roy would have been brought back to Brawl and Kuja from Final Fantasy 9 would be a playable character, if only for his awesome music. He'd be all like, "Senseless fools," at Ganondorf and Bowser and blow them into next week with Omega while Dark Messenger played in the background and Link and Mario would be like, "Holy shnikies!" while Zidane stood off to the side with a sweat drop.**

**Also, I realize that Satoshi is really Ash's name in the Japanese version of Pokemon, but since Satoshi is such a sweet name, he's his own character and Ash is a different character. Other than that and the whole Purin is Jigglypuff thing, that's all I really know about the different translations of Pokemon (or Pokemon in general; all I know I learned from either other fics or Smash Bros.; feel free to set the facts straight on all my mistakes except the above mentioned Satoshi's Ash thing.). I also know Shigeru Okiido is really Gary Oak, but what kind of name is Gary?!! Shigeru is way cooler, and I don't say that just because it's the first name of Mario and Zelda master, Shigeru Miyamoto. And by the way, I apologize for a mistake in the previous story: Link is not "McHottie", Ike is. Link is "McCutie". On a similar note, Pit is "Bunny Honey" and Marth is "Bishie Boy". I honestly don't know how Link's title got switched in the final version; I blame the penguin that stole my sanity...**


	5. Chapter 5

Green fields, brown and green trees, blue ponds, and dark caves would pass his vision in a swift, colorful blur before they'd disappear in a flash for a different view. Wind whistled through his hair at speeds faster than he'd ever flown in his entire life, and the feeling made his wings subconsciously flap rapidly, causing a desperate need to cling to the equestrian in front of him for dear life lest the breeze pick him up and send him flying away. The occasional angry curse in the Hylian tongue drifted back to him, always with a colorful word or two in English added in, always followed by an equally angry curse in Japanese from his side, then an angry yell of "Marth! Link!" from in front of him, and a laugh he could definitely hear from just in front of him.

Pit sighed sadly, tightening his grip on Ike's waist as they quickly sped through Hyrule Field back to Link's house for a few supplies. Link and Zelda rode in front of them on Epona, and Marth quickly ran beside them, amazing Pit with his high stamina and speed. Pit directed his gaze to Link's back, then Marth's, then Zelda's, and finally Ike's, his stare not going unnoticed by the blue-purple haired mercenary.

"Don't worry so much. Link's fine."

The angel jumped, turning to see Ike briefly smile at him kindly before turning his attention back onto the trail as they crossed the final bridge before they'd enter Faron Woods, "Are you sure? What if he has another heart attack? Or it wasn't a heart attack, and he needs medical attention? What if he's dying of cancer?!"

Ike laughed loudly, reaching one hand back to tousle Pit's hair affectionately, "Trust me, Pit, Link's fine."

"Are you sure?"

"Positive. Rhys gave me some medical training before I left for The World of Trophies; I can spot the flu a mile away if I have to. Besides, do you think that Princess Zelda would have let him leave the castle if his health was in danger?"

"N-No but-" Pit paused as Ike drew the horse to a stop at the edge of a dock leading into what must have once been a swamp, "He was bleeding out of his mouth, right? Maybe he's suffering an internal injury from the fight with Tabuu, so he had a hemorrhage. What if it gets worse and he gets anemic and he passes out and he dies out here and-"

"Pit, Link's perfectly fine." Ike repeated, slowly dismounting from his steed and helping Pit down.

"You said you only got 'some' medical training. What if you don't know enough to know if-"

"Pneumocystis carinii pneumonia. Do you know what that is, Dr. Pit?!" Ike asked, fire glowing in his eyes.

"No..."

"Then don't criticize me on my diagnostician skills!" Ike straightened his headband and fixed Ragnell on his belt, ignoring the strange stares he was getting from Marth and Zelda, "And, for the record, Pneumocystis carinii pneumonia is an infection caused by a fungus and is marked by fever, a nonproductive cough, tachypnea, dyspnea, and hypoxemia primarily seen in people with immunodeficiency viruses such as AIDS, or do I need to teach you what AIDS is, too?!" Ike "harumph"-ed, walking proudly over to Marth while Pit felt a sweat drop go down the back of his head. Ike was insane!

"What was that all about?" Pit jumped, turning to see Link smiling kindly at him.

"Um...I'm not really sure. I just asked if you were okay, and Ike snapped at me."

"I'm fine. My chest still hurts a little, but otherwise nothing's wrong. I've been through worse," Pit unwillingly accepted this answer, looking down at the strange, purple mist just beyond the dock they were standing on. Before Pit could ask where they were and why, Link quickly explained, "I need to get something from here before we leave. And no, mom, you can't hurry ahead and get it for me. I'm the only one who can get it, unless you can find Toon Link and bring him back." Pit blushed as Link patted his shoulder with a smirk, walking to the edge of the dock with the other three in their group. Was Pit really being that over-protective?

"So," Marth asked, pausing as Pit finally joined them before turning his attention back to Link, "how are we crossing?"

"I don't know. When Midna..." Link cut himself off, eyes momentarily shining with sadness before he looked up, "I used to be able to cross by jumping from different logs and ledges above the mist, but..." Link reached into the item bag at his side, fingering something inside before turning back to his friends, "Marth, can you carry Ze-Princess Zelda across if I show you where to jump?" Marth nodded, wondering what Link was getting at. Link then turned to Pit, holding out his hand, "And, Pit, can you fly Ike across, if I take your equipment from you both?"

"I guess." Pit stared at Ike, who instantly unsheathed Ragnell and took the bow and quiver entrusted to Pit by Link and handed them back to the hero.

"Link, how are you-"

"Midna left me the stone before she left. I'll transform long enough to jump across. I need you to extract it and cover it with the armor once we're across." Zelda bit her lip before slowly nodding her consent, holding out a hand as Link lifted out a bundle of red and gold that looked like a balled up tunic. Link pulled the outfit away to reveal a black gem covered in orange markings that was shaped similarly to the gem on Link's Master Sword and quiver. The gem hovered in front of Link as he passed the armor to Zelda, and the hero slowly exhaled before gently placing the tip of his index finger against its glassy surface.

What happened next caused the other warriors- with the sole exception of Zelda- to recoil in shock; Link's body was encompassed by a black mist as he slowly fell to the ground on all fours, his body slowly but surely changing shape. Ike watched with an awed curiosity as Link slowly sprouted a snout, tail, and wolf ears. He only saw such a transformation in the Laguz, but they were all feline based. Was Link some weird, new breed of Beast?

The transformation ended and instead of a proud Hylian warrior there stood a gray wolf with strange white markings, a shackle on his front left leg, shocking blue eyes, and a small pair of blue hoop earrings in each of his ears. He turned to Marth with slow, graceful steps before walking away from the peer to a small ledge nearby. Marth picked up Zelda while Pit lifted himself from the ground to grab both of Ike's arms, and, once he was sure everyone was ready, Link jumped onto a nearby stump, then an uplifted root, and finally to a distant plateau before running to its peak. Marth swiftly followed, not missing a beat even with the added weight from carrying Zelda. Pit flew straight to the plateau, barely able to keep up as Link and Marth were off again. This pattern kept up for the entirety of the trip, even when they elevated to the top of the trees, and several strange enemies Zelda explained were Deku Babas attempted to bite them. The heroes reached the other side to find another dock and a cave blocked off by a locked gate. Link simply walked to one side and dug his way to the other side, leaving the others behind as Marth reached the gate.

"Stupid pain in the-" Marth unsheathed Falchion, charging up his blade for a Smash Attack and destroying the gate in one magnificent blow. He returned his sword to its scabbard and walked through the small cave with Pit and Ike following suit. They found Link sitting on the other side in a small clearing before he stood up again and went over to a ledge just in front of the giant tree leading into the Forest Temple. He leapt to a tiny ledge on the other side and disappeared from sight, leaving Marth scratching the back of his head in frustration. "And we're supposed to be able to follow him how?" Ike felt something tugging at his pant leg and looked down to see a sparkling, golden chicken. His lips instantly pulled into a catlike grin.

"I think I know."

With Link leading the way on foot in wolf form, Pit flying Ike across, and Marth and Zelda entrusting their lives in a gliding chicken the five warriors reached yet another cave, and following Link's leadership they navigated the Lost Woods to find a clearing full of ruins that looked like the inside of some kind of grand building. It was here that Link nudged Zelda's hand with his paw and lightly whimpered. Zelda pulled out the strange tunic from her own item bag, holding it up in one hand while following Link through a doorway guarded by two statues. The others quietly followed them to another clearing, where they finally realized why Link was here.

The Master Sword, the blade Link was famous for carrying for the majority of his adventure to rescue Hyrule as well as the entirety of their adventure in the World of Trophies. The sacred blade Toon Link would one day come to possess. The very sword used by the legendary Hero of Time long ago. Link slowly stepped up to the pedestal in which his sword rested, and almost instantly the sword began to warmly glow as it resonated to its owner's Triforce of Courage. A bright light issued from both the sword and Link, blinding the other Smashers. When they could see again they saw Link in human form clutching the Master Sword in his left hand and his Hylian Shield in his right. Zelda held the gem that had transformed Link in the strange clothes before she tossed it back to Link, who promptly returned it to his own item bag.

Minutes passed without anyone doing or saying anything until Marth sighed angrily, running his fingers through his hair as he was known to do if he got bored in battle, "Let me guess. You have no idea how we get out of here, do you?"

"Well..."

"You idiot. Oh, wait, idiot's an understatement! You're an antipathy to the human race!"

"Are you trying to start a fight, Bishie Boy?" Link held up his sword, and Zelda sighed. Not again...

"And just what'll you do if I say yes?"

"Beat your pampered keister into next week!"

"I'd like to see you try, you filthy peasant!" Marth unsheathed Falchion and got into a battle stance, but before he could attack Ike grabbed the back of his cape and the collar of Link's tunic, pulling the swordsmen apart like a frustrated mother would do to her bickering children.

"Okay, I think this has gone on long enough. In case you two have forgotten, we're trying to figure out what a bunch of insane bunnies seem to want with Link. Kind of hard to accomplish if you two kill each other first."

"Who says they're after me?"

"Oh, I don't know. Maybe the fact picking one up gave you a freaking heart attack while it didn't even affect the rest of us," Ike promptly placed his two friends back on their feet, but his arms remained outstretched in case they attempted to jump each other, "Now, before we go traipsing off to some unknown and potentially deadly location, are you two going to set aside your stupid feud, or do I need to put leashes on both of you?" Link noticeably cringed at the word "leashes" while Marth stubbornly crossed his arms and looked off in a different direction.

"Why should I apologize? He started it."

"What?!"

"All right, that does it!" Ike yelled as he grabbed Link's and Marth's arms and pulled them back together, "Don't say I didn't give you both fair warning!"

"I hate you, Link."

"I hope you fall in a ditch and die," Link muttered back, subconsciously tugging at the too tight choker around his neck as Ike half led, half dragged him and Marth across the Lost Woods. The "leashes" Ike had threatened them with were really just spare ropes Ike kept on hand in case of an emergency, but if either Marth or Link attempted to remove the ropes from around their necks, Ike would turn around, snap at them both, and then tug harder on the ropes so they'd both trip. What Ike's major malfunction was was anyone's guess at that point. It probably had to do with the fact they were all completely lost and had been trying to find a way out of the woods for nearly an hour, though...

"You guys find anything yet?" Ike yelled to the sky, and within seconds Pit, with Zelda in tow, landed safely on the ground in front of Ike.

"Yeah." Pit motioned the others forward and pushed apart a pair of bushes, and the sight they beheld was both amazing and confusing.

They definitely weren't in Hyrule anymore.

They stood at the edge of a cliff overlooking a giant waterfall that flowed freely into a moat that surrounded a grand castle with light gray walls and red towers. A green field surrounded most of the castle except for the strip of land nearest the moat, and a tiny, circular garden rested a few feet away from a bridge made of the same stone as the castle. Ike took a slow, tentative step forward until his foot was resting at the edge of the cliff and he could see the castle more clearly. "Where...the heck...are we?"

"Good question..." Marth mumbled, scratching the back of his head and sighing in frustration.

"You might not believe this, but...This is Princess Peach's Castle." The other four warriors turned to look at Pit in shock.

"You mean we just walked from Hyrule...to the Mushroom Kingdom?!"

Pit nodded, "The Mushroom Kingdom is full of forests. The Lost Woods in Hyrule must have connected to one of them at some point and led us here."

"Connected to...?" Ike spun around, ready and willing to face Link and give him an earful for causing them to get lost in some foreign land, when he noticed the dazed look on the young Hylian's face, "Link? You okay?"

"I...I've been here before."

"We all have, kiddo. The Mushroom Kingdom was one of the areas we used to fight in."

"No, I mean...here. At the castle. I was here before." Link stepped forward and looked down at the tall, middle tower of the castle. It was strange. He couldn't remember a moment in his life when he could have come here, yet...why could he see himself standing on the roof of the castle, fighting...Toon Link? Link squinted his eyes in deep concentration, glancing rapidly around at the roof. No, it wasn't Toon Link...It was a little kid dressed in a green tunic, but he was taller than Toon Link, and his body was slightly slimmer. He turned to face Link...

"Hey, watch it, you idiot!" Link was forced back to reality by a rough tug on his shoulder, and he glanced over to see Marth had pushed him backwards, "You nearly walked over the edge of the cliff!"

"I did?" Link blinked several times, shaking his head as a sharp, stabbing pain repeatedly struck his skull. Great...a migraine.

"That might not be such a bad idea, actually," Zelda commented, glancing down at the rushing waters below. She noticed Pit staring at her incredulously and she pointed down at the land nearby, "Do you see any other way down from here? Besides... look at the ground." Pit followed the Princess of Hyrule's finger and found what had caught her attention-hundreds of footprints, most of them looking as if they came from animals. And mixed in with them were bootprints as well as marks left by heels.

"It looks like there was a struggle. What are you willing to bet that those animal prints came from the Rabbids?"

"They might have, but...We won't know until we get down there, now will we?" Zelda smirked proudly, grabbing her dress and hiking it up so that the male Smashers could see as high as the tops of her boots before she ran to the edge of the cliff and jumped. It was a sloppy dive, but she landed safely in the water, swam to the ramp on the other side of the castle, climbed out, and ran to the bridge across the moat where the others could see her. "Come on, it's safe enough!"

Ike glanced uneasily down over the side of the cliff, "Yeah, easy for her to say...She doesn't have a bunch of armor on to weigh her down..."

"Ah, go ahead, Ike! What can it hurt?" And Pit slapped Ike across the back, sending the swordsman tumbling over the side of the cliff...and, as an added bonus, causing Link and Marth to fall, as well, thanks to their leashes. All three of them landed with a giant splash that lapped up over the side of the cliff onto the land Zelda currently occupied. Marth was the first to surface after the unexpected fall, spitting out a mouthful of water and turning to glare at Pit.

"What the hell was that for?!"

"Sorry! I didn't know that would happen!" Pit cringed as Ike and Link surfaced at the same time, coughing up water and momentarily glaring at the ethereal being before turning and swimming back to shore as Marth tugged violently on the rope so he could get away before he drowned. The three swordsmen somehow managed to climb out of the water and began ringing out their clothes and emptying their scabbards of any water they contained before walking over to join Zelda, who was inspecting the footprints left from the earlier stampede at Princess Peach's Castle. Pit hesitantly flew down so he was behind Zelda in case his friends decided to exact their revenge, also looking at the footprints.

"These are definitely the Rabbids' footprints. And these look like... I guess Peach and the others have met our furry little friends, too."

"Do you think they chased them off?" Pit asked.

"Maybe. Look over there," Zelda pointed over a tall green hill to the south and the other warriors turned to see a bunch of charred lumps clustered together. Walking over to look at them, the warriors realized that what they were seeing were in fact at least a hundred Rabbids, all charred to a crisp but still very much alive.

"Yikes... I wonder what did that." Ike commented as Link crouched down to get a better look at the ground.

"Unless I'm mistaken, it was Mario and his Final Smash."

"Are you sure? I thought we couldn't use our Final Smashes in this world."

"Do you realize who we're talking about? Mario probably smuggled a Smash Ball back in case of an emergency. Besides, the scorch marks on the ground are in the same pattern his Final Smash follows," Link slowly rose up from the ground, staggering slightly as the sudden movement made him dizzy while his migraine throbbed, although it had gotten surprisingly lighter when Pit accidentally pushed him over the waterfall, "The footprints continue that way. Maybe if we go that way we'll run into Mario and the others."

"Sounds like a plan to me," Ike turned to Marth and Link, grinning darkly as he pulled on the ropes they'd nearly managed to forget about and said, "Come on, slaves." Marth sighed sadly and hung his head as he unwillingly followed Ike while Link took one final glance at the castle's roof. He could swear he saw the little boy from before sitting on top of the highest tower with his legs dangling over the side and staring up into the sky. He still couldn't see the little boy's face, although he saw short blond hair flutter slightly in the breeze from beneath his cap, and...a large bloodstain on the front of his tunic... "I said 'come on, slaves'. That means you, too, Link." Link tripped as Ike tugged forcefully at his leash and winced as his migraine worsened. Was that little boy the cause of it...or was he some kind of hallucination caused by it?

"Hey, Ike, could you do me a favor? I want you to look up at the castle, and tell me if you see anything on the roof."

Ike turned his gaze to the roof, scanning it for whatever Link must want him to see. Link looked up as well, seeing the little boy now had his head resting in his hand as he looked up, "I don't see anything. Why? Did you see something?"

"You can't see him?"

"See who?"

"The kid sitting on the roof." By now the others had stopped to see why Ike and Link weren't moving and noticed Ike was glancing from the roof to Link and then back to the roof.

"Link, I think you're hallucinating. There's no kid."

"I guess..." So the migraine was causing the kid instead of the other way around, "Thanks. It must just be a mirage," Not that Link would ever tell his friends he had a migraine. They'd probably force him to rest until he was better, and he didn't have that kind of time. He wanted to find the Rabbids, figure out what they were up to, and stop them as soon as possible. Besides, a mirage was a good excuse for his hallucination. It was scorching hot in the Mushroom Kingdom, even after that inadvertent dip in the moat. How Princess Peach and the Mario Brothers could stand living here was beyond Link.

"Ready?" Ike asked kindly, taking Link's health into consideration. The last thing they needed was Link suffering a heat stroke, especially so soon after his heart attack.

"Ready."

"Great!" And Link actually fell this time as Ike yanked on the rope, running over to Marth, Zelda, and Pit and slightly dragging Link along the way, "Hurry up, slave number two. Time's a wasting!"

"Yeah, yeah. I'm coming," Link got to his feet and dusted off the front of his tunic before he hurried to catch up to his friends. He stopped one last time to look at the castle's roof and realized to his relief that the little boy was gone before he followed the others across one of the many fields of the Mushroom Kingdom.

"Holy...crap...Now I know we all recognize this place," Ike muttered, staring up at the large, foreboding exterior...of Luigi's Mansion. Despite being creepy beyond all reason, Luigi's Mansion was actually a lot of Smashers' favorite location. Everyone loved breaking down the support beams and hearing Luigi scream in horror as a section of his home crumbled away until the entire thing was just a pile of debris. And the best part was that the mansion rebuilt itself a few minutes later, and they could all break it down again. However, where the Smashers fought was an altered version of the mansion designed so that the Smashers would only have essentially six sections to fight in-counting the upper and lower foyer as two separate spots. The real mansion had over fifty rooms not counting all the hallways, but the Rabbids' footprints ended at the mansion's front door, and, surprisingly enough, the Great Fox was resting in a small clearing nearby, "So, Fox and Falco were dragged into this, too. I'm starting to think this is turning into the Subspace Emissary all over again, only instead of chasing the Subspace Army we're after Rabbids."

"Subspace Emissary? Is that what we're calling the Tabuu incident now?" Pit asked. Sure, it was a pretty cool name, and it could be taken to mean several different things- The Ancient Minister, or rather R.O.B., was an agent for Ganondorf, the Smashers were agents ridding the world of Subspace, Tabuu was like an agent from Subspace-but where did Ike come up with a name like that?

"It was Marth's idea to call it that, and Princess Zelda and I agreed it was a good name. What do you two think?"

"I like it," Pit agreed.

"Same here," Link nodded, and Marth practically jumped for joy that the name was already so popular, "But Subspace Emissary repeat or not, those Rabbids need stopped from...whatever they're hoping to accomplish." The others nodded in agreement, everyone pulling out their weapons and walking up the path to the mansion. Link was about to turn the doorknob, when...

"L-Link?" Link stopped looking back to see Pit...trembling! "Um...I'm not so sure about this. Didn't Luigi tell us once that there are g-ghosts in there?"

"You're an angel and you're afraid of ghosts?" Link asked, finding the idea strange, "You'll be fine. I may not look like it, but I killed sixty-five ghosts once, and only one of them I killed in human form. You just have to pull their main soul out of their chests when they've fallen. You've got nothing to be afraid of."

"O-Okay." Pit meekly answered, shivering as Zelda gently stroked his back in small circles to calm him down.

"Link's right. Calm down, sweetheart. You'll be fine," Pit forced a small smile for Zelda, realizing that she was actually a lot like Palutena had been when Pit was a kid starting out his career as one of Palutena's guards. Link smiled back at Pit as he watched him inch slightly closer to Zelda, and he turned the doorknob, but as he opened the door the next thing he heard was Pit scream in terror, and, when Link and the others turned to see what had startled Pit, the sight before them made them scream, as well...

To Be Continued!

**All things Super Smash Bros. belong to Nintendo.**

**A/N: Mwa ha ha...Cliffy ending! Yea, completed just in time for Valentine's Day...so this is like my Valentine's Day gift to you all. Thanks to everyone who added **_**The Diabolus Crystal**_** to a Story Alert- Captain Black Knight, Hylian Monarch, and dragroar- any and all who added me to a Favorite Story, and my one reviewer, Captain Black Knight! **

**Please, review! Comments and criticisms are welcome!**


	6. Chapter 6

"What was that?" Lucas asked timidly, turning as an echoing chorus of screams resounded throughout the entire mansion. Luigi visibly trembled, creating a distinctive rattling noise as the flashlight in his hand shook with his arm, while Peach drew closer to Mario and held up her parasol defensively. The group had found a fresh trail of Rabbid tracks leading into Luigi's Mansion and followed them inside, only to find the mansion darkened like it had been when Luigi first got his mansion eight years earlier. And, best of all, all of the ghosts had escaped from their portraits and were wreaking havoc throughout the house...again. Not to mention they hadn't found any sign of the Rabbids since entering the mansion.

"It was probably the Boos trying to scare us because somebody," Mario glared at Luigi, who headed the group, "helped them escape...again."

"Hey, it wasn't my fault! Professor Gadd was supposed to be keeping an eye on the ghosts while I was away saving your skin."

"I'm surprised they took over again so quickly. You were only away for a day, right?" Fox asked, ears now perked up as he heard a strange noise that sounded like a bunch of raspy murmurs.

"Yeah. Most of them should go away when I flip the breaker. It worked last time, but it might not work on the gallery ghosts."

"Then, let's go find that breaker," Mario took the flashlight from Luigi's hand, running to the head of the group and motioning his friends forward.

"It's not that simple, Mario," Luigi broke in, "Last time the ghosts locked the door to the breaker room, and I had to fight one of the gallery ghosts to get the key."

"Well, where's this all important ghost, then?"

"The Wardrobe Room...on the second floor. He's tricky, though. I don't know if I can catch him again."

"Nonsense, little bro!" Mario clapped Luigi on the shoulder, "We're the Super Mario Bros.; if we can't handle one silly, old ghost, then no one can! To the Wardrobe Room!" And Mario grabbed Luigi's arm, practically ripping it out of its socket as he ran back through the mansion toward the appointed place.

"Well, at least Mario's in high spirits," Falco commented with a sweat drop as he, Fox, Peach, Lucas, Ness, Kirby, and Meta Knight followed the brothers back across the mansion from the Roof.

Pit screamed, burying his head in his hands as his friends' screams joined with his. That horrible thing...That horrible, terrible, gruesome thing waiting for them at the entrance... It was the worst sight Pit had ever seen! Why had he ever let Link convince him to stay on Earth instead of returning to Angel Land? He briefly opened his eyes, murky with a film of tears as he realized his friends had stopped screaming, most likely devoured by that terrible thing. He screamed louder as the creature came into view and closed his eyes tightly. This was it. His last memories of either Heaven or Earth were to be his demise at the hands of some horrific beast...

"Hey, now. It's okay, little fella. No need to be afraid. Goodness, you scare easier than Luigi, don't you?" Pit gasped as he felt thin, wrinkly hands reach over for his arms, gently shaking him to pull him from his terrified stupor. Wait...horrible man- eating beasts didn't talk, did they? Pit opened his eyes again and shakily wiped away his tears with the backs of his arms, blinking away the bleariness in his vision until he saw the horrible creature that had so scared him and the others to find it was...a harmless, little, old man. He beamed at Pit from behind a pair of large, dark blue glasses, and his body was hidden beneath a white lab coat, but what most caught Pit's attention was the strange, white hair sticking straight up on his head like a cowlick that was made up of all of his hair, "Not the reaction I'm used to getting, but very well met nonetheless, young fella. I'm Professor Elvin Gadd. I own the lab next to this mansion."

"You mean the place that looks like an outhouse?" Gadd shot Link a look that could kill at that statement, and the hero held his hands up in surrender, "I didn't use it like one, if that's what you're thinking. Oh, I'm Link by the way," Link offered his hand to Gadd, who took it and shook it enthusiastically.

"The pleasure's all mine," Gadd paused to look up at the darkened ceiling as the dull thud of footsteps momentarily filled his ears before all was silent again. He looked to Link, who didn't seem to have noticed anything, then at Pit, who was looking around fearfully. He really was more easily scared than Luigi, "I swear, these grounds must be cursed. First Boos come and build their mansion here, then my Gallery escapes, then Mario gets captured, then when I thought everything was okay when Luigi built a new mansion here, a whole bushel of Rabbids stampede and let the ghosts loose again."

Gadd regretted saying anything when Link gripped his hand harder than intended, while his friends watched Gadd wince in pain attentively, "Did you say Mario and Luigi?"

"Yeah. Are they friends of yours?"

"We're...acquaintances." Link involuntarily shuddered at the memory of how he and Mario first met. All over a stupid misunderstanding by Link.

"Perfect. They came by about half an hour or so ago and followed the Rabbids inside, but they never came back. They probably just realized that their search would be easier if they turned the power back on first and then searched from room to room. I got worried and followed them hoping to be of some assistance, but even with a Poltergust 5000 I'm too old for this ghost catching tom-foolery. But you," Gadd walked over to Pit, "you're perfect for the job! When I gave Luigi a Poltergust 3000, he cleared the mansion of every ghost in a single night. With my latest invention, you could probably do it twice as fast, thrice as fast if your friends can help at all."

"Wh-Why me?" Pit asked shakily, still traumatized from the earlier scare and the new knowledge that there were definitely ghosts in this place.

"Considering how frightened you were just by little old me, I doubt you could handle ghosts on your own, and it's better to have at least one thing to send those ghouls trembling with fear on your side!" Pit was stunned into silence as Gadd removed the travelling sized ghost vacuum from his back and strapped it to Pit's own, taking a few minutes to figure out how to work past the problem of Pit's wings, "I don't really have time to teach you how to use the Poltergust 5000. When you meet Luigi, he can tell you the basics and show you how it works," Gadd made one final adjustment, then stood back to admire his work, "Perfect! Now you're ready for action...unless the hose sucks in your wings." Pit yelped at the thought, grabbing one wing and holding it to his chest defensively. "Relax, boy. It was a joke. My career spans over seventy years. I think I can do something as simple as this by now," Gadd chuckled before turning to Link, and pulling out a tiny item shaped like a Nintendo Dual Screen. "I take it you're the leader of this little group, right, sonny? This is a Dual Scare, far superior to that old Game Boy Horror. You don't have to switch between screens to use this nifty, little gadget. The top screen allows you to scan things for information, and the bottom screen shows a map of the area. You can even talk to me using the mic at the bottom and draw on the map with either the stylus or your finger," Gadd showed the Dual Scare to Link, making sure he saw the second and basement floors and the rooms marked Wardrobe Room and Breaker Room, "As the name implies, the Breaker Room is where the breaker for the power is, but the door is locked, so-"

"There's a key to it in the Wardrobe Room, right?"

"Right you are. The catch is, there's a ghost guarding it named Uncle Grimmly. He's a crafty one, but Luigi managed to get him the last time the power was out. Get up there before Luigi and his friends do and make sure Grimmly stays put until Luigi comes. Think you can do that? Then good luck, especially to you, Pit!" And Gadd casually walked out the door leaving the heroes in stunned silence.

"Hey, is it my imagination, or is that guy-"

"He wasn't a ghost, Pit," Ike muttered.

"No, not that. Didn't you guys notice how he knew about the Rabbids but didn't meet Luigi before he got here, and he knew my name."

"Who cares? He gave us this stuff, so he's obviously not on the Rabbids' side. I say we just hurry up and do what he says. The sooner we stop this Uncle Grimmly, the sooner we can go after our real goal: The Rabbids," Marth declared before starting up the steps to the second floor. He was abruptly stopped by a rough pull around his neck before he fell down the stairs with anything but royal grace, and he looked up to see Ike twirling his end of Marth's leash in his hand.

"Not so fast, Little Prince. Pit and Link are the ones with the ghost hunting equipment, so they should lead the way. Wouldn't you agree, princess?"

"Hm? Oh, yeah. Sure," Zelda replied, distracted by looking over Link's shoulder at the DS that even included a little symbol of Link's head to show where they were. Link pulled out the stylus from the back of the DS and held it to the arrow next to the 1F that signified what floor they were on and lightly dragged it up, moving the view to the second floor. A little X marked where they needed to go, and in a distant section of the map, there was a symbol of Luigi's head moving rapidly across the map toward a set of stairs down to the first floor. "So, that's where we need to go?"

"Looks like it. Ready, Pit?" Link turned back to his angelic friend, who slowly looked at the ghost catching vacuum on his back and fearfully replayed that horrible sentence in his head: Unless the hose sucks in your wings. Pit's wings were his pride and joy; the very Wings of Icarus he used during his adventure to save Angel Land. If he ever lost them, there'd be hell to pay..."Pit?" Pit slowly looked forward again and nodded to Link before they climbed the stairs to the Parlor. Link slowly turned the handle to one of the doors and pulled, only to find the door locked. "Son of a-"

"Allow me," Ike cut in, pushing his friends back and staring the door down as if it were the Black Knight back from the dead. He exhaled slowly and, with a mighty yelp, kicked the doors and smashed them into pieces. "And that's how you open a locked door."

"Luigi's going to kill you for destroying his doors, though."

"It's for the betterment of humanity, right? Besides, the doors are probably nothing compared to how badly we'll rip this place apart when the Rabbids actually show," Ike stepped into the room casually, with Ragnell in one hand and Marth and Link's leashes in the other, looked around, and motioned the others forward. "Coast's clea-" And Ike didn't finished as he stumbled over the leg of a table on the right side of the room and fell, dragging the Prince of Altea and the Hero of Twilight several inches forward with him. There was an uncomfortably long silence in the darkness before there came a distinctive cry of, "I'm okay. Damn table!" followed by the sound of Ike actually smashing said table with his foot. Pit snickered as Zelda cast Din's Fire in her hand to illuminate their path, and they all laughed to see the entire front side of Ike's body covered in a thick layer of dust. The mercenary patted himself clean and turned to walk to the next door without a word, kicking it open as well so that they were in the Anteroom.

The others immediately sobered as they realized how strange it was that they'd had yet to meet any ghosts, and also that the only room left was the Wardrobe Room. Something was definitely wrong with this picture. Ike turned to look at the others worriedly, who could only weakly nod before Ike kicked in the door to the Wardrobe Room. Pit, being the most prepared to take on Uncle Grimmly, stepped into the room first and quickly looked around for any signs of the poltergeist, but there were only three giant wardrobes, a shoe rack, a hat tree, and a few coats and dresses dangling from hangers on poles along the walls. Ike, Link, and Marth were next to enter the room, all three holding up their swords, and glancing cautiously around the room to find nothing as well. Finally came Zelda, their only light source, who looked at every nook and cranny in the room and found only dust and articles of clothing.

"Do you think Gadd lied to us?" Marth asked, taking a quick glance behind them for their enemy.

"Maybe the ghost found out we were coming and fled?" Pit proposed.

"Where to?" Link asked before he heard the Luigi's Mansion Theme play out of his DS and slowly lifted it to realize both screens said, "Gadd Calling". Link put his mouth to the little mic slot and slowly said, "Hello?"

"Link, get out of there, now! You're all in terrible danger! Hurry!!" Came a shrill voice from the speakers.

"Why? What's wrong?"

"This isn't the time to ask stupid questions! Get out of that room, posthaste!" Gadd barely finished speaking before the entire mansion began to rumble, and the ceiling began to collapse. Ike grabbed Zelda's hand and lightly flung her out the door first before grabbing Pit around the waist and running out the door with Link and Marth quickly following. Seconds after Marth emerged they heard a loud crash as that ceiling and, as a result, the floor of the room above it, fell into the Wardrobe Room.

"Thanks for the heads up," Link said into the DS. The mansion suddenly began rumbling again before a second loud crash rang through the house. "For the love of...Now what?"

The resulting dust from the collapse cleared away, and the Smashers were left nearly speechless by what they saw, "Oh, big Rabbid... Big, big, BIG Rabbid..." Ike muttered as he stared up at the gargantuan beast. Indeed, that was more or less what it was-a giant Rabbid with rags for clothes and a giant, metal mask around its face as well as a chain around its neck with a lock. Link held up the DS and tapped the upper screen to scan the giant Rabbid.

"'Serguei'?" The Rabbid turned to Link and swatted him out of the way like a pile of dead leaves with the flick of his wrist, causing the green loving hero as well as Ike and Marth sailing across the room. All three swordsmen managed to do midair dodges so they'd land on their feet, and Link, finally pushed to his limit for the day, angrily glared up at Serguei and brandished the Master Sword while tossing the DS to Zelda. Before Link could attack, however, Serguei moved in for another hit to the Hero of Twilight, and Link attempted to jump out of the way and dodge it, as did Marth, who was standing close to Link, but the leashes continued to restrain their movements, and both of them smashed into the wall before collapsing to the floor. They both looked up to see Ike had used Counter to push the beast backwards, and they both glared at him while Marth yelled,

"Ike, let go of the leashes already!"

"Why? So you two can kill each other?"

"Is this really the right time to discuss this?!" Link yelled back, ducking just in time to avoid another hit while Marth went in with several hits from his Dancing Blade attack.

"I think this is the perfect time to discuss this, actually. Either start acting like adults and promise you won't hurt each other, or just spend the whole battle fighting this way. It's your call," Ike said calmly, eliciting strange stares from Pit and Zelda in the Anteroom, "So what'll it be?"

"We promise!!"

"Do you now?"

"Yes!!"

"Are you sure?"

"Yes, already!!"

"Let me hear you both individually say it, then."

"What's that have to- Fine! I, Prince Marth Lowell of Altea, promise I will not hurt Link if I'm let loose!"

"I, Linkin Hikari of Hyrule, swear I won't hurt Marth if you let go of the leashes already!"

"Linkin Hikari?" Pit asked with one eyebrow slightly arched.

"Shut up. It's better than Pitrius Icarus. Yeah, I heard you talking to yourself when you thought I was asleep."

"Good enough for me," Ike let go of the leashes and the two swordsmen immediately set their newfound freedom to good use. They smirked proudly at each other, silently placing a bet over who would bring down the behemoth of a bunny first, and sprang into action.

With courage and strength no one thought him capable of, Luigi burst through the door into the first floor from the hallway beside the Rec Room as the rumbling increased into a deafening roar and ran down the hall toward the Foyer. He kept checking the Game Boy Horror as a little pink dot kept flashing in and out of his radar only for a little blue dot to appear and continually jump around the map in the Wardrobe Room. Luigi hit his by now ancient GBH in the hopes of clearing it of some glitch when Peach glanced over his shoulder and squealed in delight as she watched the dot disappear and reappear in another part of the room, "Oh my gosh! Luigi, I think that's Zelda!"

"Princess Zelda?" Luigi looked at the dot again as it disappeared and then glanced back at the Mushroom Princess. "Are you sure?"

"Yes. I'm positive."

"Why would she even be here? Hyrule's four countries away from the Mushroom Kingdom," Fox commented.

"Maybe she encountered those rabbits and followed them here, as well," Meta Knight mused.

"She's probably not alone. Ike and Marth decided to serve as her bodyguards. And we all know someone else who's probably following her around like a lovesick puppy."

"Mario, a few hours ago, you probably didn't even know Link and Princess Zelda were from the same country until I told you they were an item," Luigi remarked coldly. "But the fact that Princess Zelda's even here must mean that something's wrong. The sooner we find out what, the better," Luigi picked up speed despite the heavy Poltergust 3000 on his back until he came to the double doors leading into the Foyer, slammed them open, and dashed up the stairs to the Parlor. What he saw was worse than he could have ever imagined.

Fox and Falco, being the usual fastest two of the group, were just getting to the Foyer when Luigi's horrified screams filled the air, and they ran up to find him on his knees before the Parlor doors...or rather, lack thereof.

"They...they broke my..." Luigi looked close to tears. Fox hesitantly put a hand on his shoulder to comfort him, and Luigi shot straight up, face bright red as he screamed, "I'm going to KILL them for this!!" Luigi pulled his cap down and stormed through the Parlor and the Anteroom to find the Wardrobe Room, where the objects of his extreme hatred were fighting off a giant version of the earlier rabbits. Worst of all, the Wardrobe Room was covered in debris and there was a giant hole in the ceiling that showed two more holes that allowed moonlight to pour into the room.

It was worse than when they fought on the Brawl stage!

Luigi gaped in a mixture of pure shock and rage as he watched Link, Ike, Marth, Pit and Zelda in Sheik form fight Serguei. Falco was next to enter the room and see his comrades fighting off the Rabbid, followed closely by Fox, before Mario, Peach, Meta Knight, Kirby, Ness, and Lucas finally arrived.

It was surprising just how easily the five warriors fought together to take down a common foe: Sheik would jump off of the walls to distract the beast while Link, Marth, and Ike attacked from below, and Pit would warn his friends when the monster seemed prepared to strike them so that they could dodge in time. But what really caught the other Smashers' attention was how well Link and Marth were working together, given how well everyone knew that they couldn't stand each other. At several points during the battle Link would run around the monster and attack it to get its attention, and, when it went to strike at him, Marth would intercept the attack, use Counter, and send the monster reeling back while Link attacked it in its midsection with a Spin Attack, thus hitting it with three hits instead of just one if only one of them was fighting.

However, despite how synchronized Marth and Link were in attacking, Luigi's eyes were only on Ike. The man who could heft a blade a normal man would need two hands for with only one. The man who could hurt himself if he held Eruption for too long. The man who could lift crates and barrels and carry them around with ease. While both Ike and Link could have easily destroyed Luigi's precious doors with a single kick, Ike was the more likely of the two to have actually done it. And that was why Ike was the object of Luigi's intense scorn.

Fueled by nothing but hatred, Luigi stormed into the room and over to Pit, who was currently busy keeping Sheik from getting hit while she distracted Serguei. The angel yelped when Luigi grabbed the Poltergust 5000 and tugged back so that Pit fell on his behind, and he looked up in distress to find it was Luigi, "Oh, there you guys are. I was starting to worry that you wouldn't show-"

"Pit, did Ike break all of my doors down?"

Pit blinked twice over the unexpected and meaningless question, staring at Luigi and wondering if he'd heard him correctly, "What did you say?"

"Did Ike do that?" Luigi gestured to the Wardrobe Room's doorway.

"Yeah. We couldn't find the keys, so he-" Pit yelped as Luigi grabbed one of his wings and carefully twisted it so that it wouldn't be permanently damaged but would still hurt. It wasn't as if Pit were to blame, after all, but he was an accomplice. He almost regretted the move as Pit moaned in pain and scrunched up his eyes to prevent himself from crying, but before he could let go Serguei turned his attention to them and brought a fist down to crush them. Luigi jumped out of the way, dragging Pit with him and further antagonizing the angel by tugging on his wing, and Fox stepped in to help his friends and land a few blows to the Rabbid's arm. Serguei roared with anger and pain and swatted at the pilot, knocking him into the mirror of the Wardrobe Room and sending sharp shards of glass everywhere.

The sudden attack pulled the other four warriors of Pit's group from their fight and made them realize that their backup had arrived, and Ike grimaced at the angry glare Luigi shot him while tugging roughly on Pit's wing. The next thing the Smashers saw was Fox getting back to his feet with several minor cuts all over his arms, face, and tail, but he was otherwise okay for he was soon rejoining the other four warriors in attacking the Rabbid.

"Luigi, can you let go, please?" Pit moaned, not used to feeling so much pain in the most sensitive part of his body and wishing for it to end as soon as possible. Luigi looked down to see that the skin connecting Pit's one wing to the rest of his body was pulled taut to the point that it looked like Pit's wing could be ripped out at any second. He was even bleeding from the area, and in Luigi's opinion he wasn't tugging very hard. Luigi quickly released the wing and Pit fell to his knees in relief, quickly lifting his wing and soothing at the pain with his hand. However his relief was short-lived as Luigi coaxed him to his feet and inspected the latest Poltergust model, realizing that there were few changes between it and the Poltergust 3000, but the changes that were there were definitely useful...It was as if Gadd had prepared for this battle in advance.

Without giving the others any idea of what he was planning, Luigi turned a knob on the Poltergust 5000, took the hose attachment from Pit's back, and pointed the tricked out dust buster at Serguei, flipping the power switch to on and thus activating the suction. The vacuum roared to life, but rather than the typical vacuum suction power, a large, black hole formed in front of the nozzle that slowly pulled Serguei in but left the Smashers around him alone. The large Rabbid disappeared within the void and Luigi switched the vacuum off, but not before twirling the hose and putting it back in its holster.

The others, needless to say, were speechless.

Just then Luigi's GBH began playing Luigi's signature theme song, and the youngest Mario Brother nodded his head and answered it to find Gadd on the tiny screen, "Luigi, so good to see you again! I take it you figured out how my Poltergust 5000 works, my boy?"

"Uh, I know it was useful, sir, but is there any reason you added a knob that lets you switch between sucking in ghosts... and sucking in bunnies?"

"Hmm...Now that I think about it, I added that for my own needs. You know how those darn bunnies are, eating all my dandelions before they're ready to eat. It was driving me insane! Lucky for you, huh, my boy?" Luigi sweat dropped. And he thought Gadd was crazy for pickling dandelions and eating them...now he was going so far as reducing the rabbit population with a vacuum cleaner to ensure he had dinner! "But enough about that, my boy. How are your friends?"

"Oh, they're fine. Why?"

"While you may have gotten rid of the big fellow, there are still a bunch of the Rabbids in the mansion, and I suggest you all split up to find them before they escape again. Those two little boys with you...Ness and Lucas, right? You and Pit should each team up with one of them so that you can use the Poltergusts' elemental attacks at will, and maybe have Mario team up with Pit so he can use F.L.U.D.D. for water attacks. Can't let the poor fella go unprepared, can we? Good luck, Luigi, Pit." Gadd signed off and Luigi sighed, glancing from the Poltergust 3000, to the Poltergust 5000, and then to Link before looking to the rest of the Smashers.

"You all heard that, right? We need to split up, find the Rabbids, and take them down before they escape. Pit, Link, and I can head the teams since we can also take on the ghosts. Lucas, Kirby, Mario, and Ike can go with Pit through the rest of the second floor. Sheik, Peach, Fox, and Meta Knight can go with Link through the first floor. Marth, Ness, and Falco, you're with me on the third floor. Understood?" Luigi glanced over his shoulder in the darkness and smirked, lifting out Pit's hose, switching the knob back to ghost catching, and effortlessly sucking in an elderly ghost in a brown rain jacket, Uncle Grimmly. A gold key materialized in the center of the floor and Luigi picked it up, tossing it to Link. "And while your group is at it, you can flip the breaker in the basement now so that only the rooms with gallery ghosts will be dark."

The others were surprised by just how fearless Luigi was when he took charge of a situation, but smiled and went their separate ways. The hunt for the Rabbids was on!

To Be Continued!

**Nintendo owns Super Smash Bros., I do not. I'll be lucky to own my own car someday, although my dad's giving me his beat up Ford truck so I can cruise around town blaring out 'Hillbilly Deluxe' and shouting "Yeeeeeehaw!!" at the top of my lungs.**

**I hope you enjoyed this chapter of 'The Diabolus Crystal' and that you'd be so kind as to Review, even if it's a short review! Because if you do, this happens:**

**Captain Black Knight: Congratulations for winning the Googley Woogly Award (the Random Award created by one of my best friends that's really a pencil sharpener shaped like an hourglass). No, there is no PitxZelda...she was really just comforting him. If I paired Pit or Zelda with anyone, it'd be Link *drools at the thought of Zelda and Pit fighting over Link, and Pit winning, but thinks better of putting that in here...for now*.**

**Still at least two chapters before my favorite part, but next chapter I finally introduce my favorite green clad chibi! 'Til then, R&R!**

**My poor fingers need a break now...**


	7. Chapter 7

It sounded as if a stampede was raging through the entire mansion as the groups split up and headed for their respective destinations. Pit's group was the first to separate, as there were still rooms on the second floor that could be reached in that section of the mansion, then Luigi's group disappeared down the hall of the first floor toward the third floor, while Link's group slowly made its way to the basement to take care of the power outage. Fox's injuries from trying to fight off Serguei were worse than his physical appearance let on. He'd sprained an ankle from the fall, popped a rib out of place from Serguei's strike, and had a dark lump the others feared was a concussion behind his right ear. Peach's doting, motherly instincts and skills from the few years she spent as a nurse when Mario took up the doctor profession kicked in immediately, and it was only thanks to her help that Fox was able to make it down the stairs to the first floor.

So, it was with a limping, injured pilot that the group slowly made their way toward the basement at the far right end of the hall, already fighting off three lesser ghosts that hung down from the ceiling and threw bombs in front of them. They stopped at the basement door, Zelda (having changed back from Sheik the moment they reached the Foyer again) bravely opening the door and peering inside to see the state of the room. While there weren't many stairs to go down, it was hard to tell how difficult it would be for Fox to get back up if he dared go down there. She shut the door and turned to the other Smashers, shaking her head in Fox's direction. Peach saw Fox's ears dip back dejectedly, and she embraced him tightly.

"Zel, you and Link go ahead down to the Breaker Room. Meta Knight and I can stay here with Fox."

"Peachy," Zelda whined desperately.

"Don't you 'Peachy' me, missy. Link's got the key, you've got the light. We can hold off a couple of ghosts while you're gone. Besides..." and Peach winked here, "maybe while you're down there, you two can play Seven Minutes in Heaven."

Peach giggled as Link turned bright red, while Zelda simply cocked her head slightly to the side, obviously never hearing of the dirty party game before, "Seven Minutes in Heaven?"

"Oh, it's simple, really. You and Link go into the Breaker Room, shut the door behind you, and spend the next seven minutes making-"

"-small talk!" Link cut in, face an even darker red, if that was even possible.

"So it's just seven minutes talking to one another?" Zelda asked. "Sounds fun! Let's go, Link!" Zelda pulled open the door and quickly headed into the dark depths of the basement. Link followed close behind, but not before looking back to Peach and shaking his head over her childish behavior for a princess. She waved back with a cheery smile and a slight giggle as Link closed the door behind him. She'd get them together one way or another yet.

Pit visibly trembled as he led his group back from the section of rooms where Neville, Lydia, Chauncey, and the Twins had previously resided (until Pit sucked them into his vacuum, anyways), heading down to the first floor where he briefly saw Peach, Meta Knight, and Fox at the right end of the hallway. They waved as they saw Pit's group, Peach even blowing Mario a kiss as they disappeared around the corner and toward the door that would lead them up to the rest of the second floor. The angel sighed sadly as he saw Fox leaning against the wall miserably, "I could help him if I was just a little stronger..."

"Huh?" Lucas asked, staring at the angel strangely as they made a right turn and went through a door parallel to the one Link and Zelda had gone through.

"Fox. If my rank was just a little higher, I could heal him. See, in Angel Land, we have this Power Hierarchy. The lowest rank is the common, powerless angel, then there's the Centurions, then there's Palutena's Guard, where I am, and finally there's the Guardian Angels. They look just like mortals, but they can teleport in the blink of an eye, heal others, and sometimes even fight with Light Magic. I'm the highest member of Palutena's Guard, but I'm just barely above the others."

"Others?"

Pit absently nodded as they ascended the stairs to the second floor, "There are seven of us total. Myself, Ika, Aislinn, Eli, Ibra, Chris, and Cathy. The Guards was a new rank added after Medusa tried to take over Angel Land. We're the first ones called to battle if war breaks out in any of the worlds. I'm the main commander of Palutena's Army, which consists of members of every level in the Hierarchy, and the other Guards control different divisions of the army. Don't get me wrong; I love being the closest angel to Lady Palutena, but sometimes I wish I was a Guardian Angel, just so I could heal people when they get injured fighting evil."

Pit opened the furthest door at the top of the stairs to find himself in the second floor hallway. It was still pitch black, giving the ghosts free range of the mansion. Little blue and purple ghost mice scurried across the floor and orange bombs floated through the air a short distance before detonating themselves. Lucas, who was using PK Thunder to light their group's path until Link's group got the lights working again, was the first to take a step into the hall, and the minute he did a purple ghost sprang down from the ceiling, dropped a bomb in front of him, and laughed as the psychic boy jumped backwards in fear. Pit went forward and turned on his vacuum, and the ghost was immediately sucked in. Lucas was shaken beyond belief.

"What's taking the others so long to get the lights back on?"

"Maybe there was a ghost blocking the way," Pit answered.

"Or maybe Link and Princess Zelda are just making out and forgot what they were doing," Ike said casually.

"Wouldn't Meta Knight or Princess Peach keep them in line?" Pit asked.

"Only if you know another girl named Princess Toadstool Peach. If there's one thing she can't resist, it's trying to get people who obviously love each other together. She probably encouraged them to go into the Breaker Room to do that sort of stuff," Mario replied before getting back to the task at hand and taking a quick look around. "If I remember correctly, this floor has nine rooms including the Sealed Room that we can't get to unless we go onto the roof and the Tea Room we passed on the way here."

"What's the closest room to where we are right now?"

"Um...The...Astral Hall on the left, and connected to it, the Observatory."

"It's as good a place to start as any," Pit said lightly, taking the lead in the group and rounding the corner to the Astral Hall. Using Lucas's Pk Thunder to see, the room was fairly small, comprising of two cupboards to the left, a chandelier overhead, and a star etched into the floor in gold at the room's center with a candelabra at each point. The candles were unlit, and the door at the other end of the room was covered in silver thorns to prevent them from entering. Mario walked into the center of the room and looked around, giving most of his attention to the five candelabras. A nod in his direction was all of the hint that Lucas needed before he performed PK Fire on all of the candles until they were all lit a bright orange. The flames leaped higher as the door they'd entered through was blocked off by silver thorns as well, and at least seven ghosts that Mario recognized were once the mask loving Shy Guys of his world appeared as well as several long, thin, red ghosts with arms dangling in front of them and surrounded the Smashers.

One of the red ghosts grabbed onto Pit and bound his arms to his sides while simultaneously strangling him, leaving him unable to use the Poltergust 5000. Ike instinctively unsheathed Ragnell while Mario prepared to use another Power-Up, Lucas prepared PK Freeze, and Kirby began inhaling and successfully sucked the masks off of several Shy Guys' faces, causing them to disappear and thus getting rid of one threat, but red ghosts latched onto them, as well, and left them defenseless as a fresh wave of Shy Guys appeared with spears in hand to impale the Smashers. Kirby, Ike, and Mario struggled to escape the ghosts' grasps on them but were only held tighter while Lucas easily surrendered all hope and Pit got steadily closer to suffocation. The Shy Guys were close enough that they could poke at their victims; tiny but bloody holes began appearing on any bare skin the Smashers had, slowly turning into long cuts, and finally into fully gaping wounds.

All five warriors were worse for wear, but Pit was by far in the worst condition, being both suffocated and starting to feel dizzy from blood loss. Being an angel, Pit wouldn't die even if stabbed through the heart or head, but his friends were an entirely different story, and unless Pit could wriggle at least one of his hands free enough to reach the Poltergust 5000 on his back, they'd die. However, the ghost holding Pit only squeezed harder, making it impossible for the angel to free himself. He choked as his wind pipe was completely cut off, just wishing to Palutena for anything to make this horrible pain stop and for his friends to survive.

It seemed Pit's prayers were answered as he heard a loud explosion in the direction of the door to the Observatory, and bits of wood went flying everywhere. Pit tried to turn his watering eyes toward the door, but only saw a flash of light before the specter holding him let go and let loose the worst scream Pit had ever heard before it was lit with light and shrank into a small dot before it exploded. The same thing happened to the ghosts holding the others hostage before the Shy Guy ghosts were taken out, as well. The warriors tried to see who or what had saved them, but in the darkness all that they could make out was a short outline of a person holding a bow. Their savior appeared to be looking around for any more of the sinister ghosts before finally putting away the bow. The voice that Pit heard seemed eerily familiar, "Are you guys okay?" Pit tried to answer, but his voice would only come out as a harsh whisper.

There was a tiny flicker above before the chandelier finally lit up, signaling that Link had finally gotten the power back up. Pit heard Lucas gasp and then start laughing like a madman as he glomped their savior to the floor, and when Pit looked over to see him, he couldn't believe his eyes.

Peach released a breath she hadn't realized she'd been holding as the lights flickered to life, causing all of the ghost mice and ceiling ghosts to shriek and vanish just as Link and Zelda returned from the basement. Link gently nudged Zelda over to the side with Peach, Fox, and Meta Knight and unsheathed his sword, taking a few cautious steps forward and scanning as much of the hallway as he could see for any signs of lingering poltergeists. Other than the Elemental Ghosts that shot out of some of the scones on the walls, the coast appeared clear. The Hero of Twilight sighed in relief and sheathed his sword, turning to the others. "We should get going. According to the map, there are eighteen doors that actually lead to other rooms on this floor."

"And the other doors?"

"I don't know. Magical portals, hidden ghosts, traps..." Link suddenly saw, at the back of his mind, himself dressed in red standing at a door built into a wall of lava. He reached forward to open the door, and it suddenly came to life, knocking him away and leaving a nasty cut across his forehead. He got to his feet, pulled out a bomb, set it in front of the door, and watched as the door blew to pieces to reveal a cavern holding a real door behind it. Link smirked in the slightest hint of satisfaction, wiped the blood away, and proceeded ahead. Link couldn't remember a moment in his life where he'd actually needed to do this, but if this...vision...was anything to go on, "But I think I just figured out how to test all the doors without constantly pulling up the map."

"And that is?"

Link grinned sinisterly as he pulled a bomb out of the item bag at his side, effortlessly lit the fuse, and tossed it at the nearest door, which happened to be to his left. The door exploded into a thousand chunks of wood and brass while the others could only stare at Link as if he'd completely lost his mind, but the hero seemed more focused on enjoying the tiny victory that his strange "vision" had brought him than what the others thought of it. "Looks like I was right."

"You are so dead when Luigi finds out about this," Fox commented.

"I'll blame Ike. Luigi's already mad enough at him without my help. A little extra initiative to kill him won't hurt," the green clad youth chose his steps carefully as he navigated the broken debris from the door to find the room he'd blown a hole into pitch black despite the contrasting brightness of the hallway. Link stared at the wall of darkness enclosed inside of the small doorway at several different angles, unable to see anything but darkness no matter how he looked at it. One of the gallery ghosts was definitely in there, but would it be safe to just storm in there without knowing what they were up against? Luigi had taken on the ghost in there all by himself eight years ago, so it couldn't be that difficult to take on with five Smashers on their side even with Fox's injuries...right? Link steeled himself for whatever was waiting for them on the other side of the door and entered without hesitation, and the rest of the group soon followed.

It appeared that the darkness seen from the outside had been an illusion created by the ghost, for as soon as the Smashers stepped inside they could easily see the entire room, although the first thing that they all looked at was the large chair at the room's center surrounded by four pillars and partially covered by a lavish purple canopy. Carefully maneuvering between two of the pillars and a bureau with a small candelabra on its surface, the group also found that in front of the chair was another small desk with a crystal ball at its center, and when Zelda checked the map on the DS it read simply "Fortune-teller's Room".

But, just as it was with Uncle Grimmly in the Wardrobe Room, the ghost of the Fortune-teller's Room was nowhere to be found.

"Maybe it's another ambush, like when Serguei attacked us," Zelda whispered. Fox shivered slightly at the idea.

"No. Serguei was sent to keep us from being able to turn the lights back on. If another giant Rabbid was going to attack at all, it would have struck while you were in the Breaker Room. There's nothing important enough in this room to provoke an attack," Meta Knight replied quickly.

"What about the ghost?"

"Luigi or Pit can get it on their way through. More importantly, I get to blow up more doors!" Link cheered.

"There's only one thing on that kid's mind, isn't there?" Fox asked, watching cautiously as Link blew up the door to the next room, which happened to be on the wall to their right.

Link was checking out the inside of the already lit Mirror Room when the others noticed a small glint of light shining on the crystal ball's surface from the sudden brightness of the room that gradually grew brighter until everyone was blinded by the light.

When the flash was at last gone, the Mirror Room was suddenly completely dark and a purple ghost with equally colored hair and blood red clothes was seated in the large chair, her bright yellow eyes scanning each of the unfamiliar occupants of her chambers. Peach and Fox carefully edged back while Meta Knight and Link readied their swords and Zelda prepared a fire spell.

"There's no need for alarm, children. I have no reason to fight you, just as I had no reason to fight Luigi when my time finally came after I helped him."

The Smashers stared between themselves and the gallery ghost before slowly lowering their weapons and edging slightly closer to her table. "Just who are you?"

"I am Madame Clairvoya, seer of dropped items. Possessions of other people awaken vibrations in my spirit..." Madame Clairvoya paused, setting her sights on Link and inspecting him up and down. "Hm? What is this object you have here? Show it, please, to Madame Clairvoya."

"O-Object?"

A ghostly hand suddenly lunged out and grabbed Link by the wrist, dragging him forward so that his face was only inches from the crystal ball while Madame Clairvoya turned his arm over this way and that before finally yelling, "Wh-What is this? Ahhh, I see now. Well, I see everything, so I saw it before, but now I REALLY see it. So, you are the reincarnation of the famous Hero of Time. Doesn't THAT bring back memories!"

"You knew the Hero of Time?"

"No, not really," Link sweat dropped. "But I do know what happened to bring his life to its most beautiful end, just as I know what's going to bring your life to its equally beautiful end...and that right soon."

"What?"

"Hand over one of the Hero's gauntlets, and I'll tell you," Link stared down at the dark brown gauntlets positioned on each of his arms for nearly a minute in silent contemplation before gripping his left gauntlet and carefully sliding it off before handing it to the specter. "Ah, one of little Rinku-kun's gauntlets, and it even still has the sweat and blood of the living caked inside. Eww..." The ground beneath them quaked, and the Smashers glanced nervously around for any signs of another Rabbid attack, but Madame Clairvoya simply placed the gauntlet down in front of the crystal ball and began running her hands over the now glowing sphere. "Oh-Ohh, they come! Now the spirits come!! Come spirits of power, come spirits of sight! Show to me the awful things occurring here tonight! Crystal orb, symbol of my clan, use your darkling powers to show us all you could-I mean CAN! Show us all you can! The light of the spirits comes! Show us what we seek!" Madame Clairvoya's entire body was now encircled by a bright purple aura as she stared intensely into the crystal ball and practically screamed, "Yes, I see it! A terrible pain unlike any other! The Hero of Time driven to death by his own innocence, for a time he had until then lived suddenly never existed!

"And as for the now great Hero of Twilight," Madame Clairvoya continued, "your demise shall come from within! A great power burns within your very soul, the flames growing higher and higher, seeking release, but once this release is at last found, the fire seers not only your enemies, but also your own beating heart! It terrifies you to no end, sneaking into your very dreams, burning away all thoughts of happiness! You ultimately realize that the only realm in which you have any hope of safety is the afterlife!" Madame Clairvoya placed a hand against Link's cheek, relishing in the slight tremor that raced over his skin.

"Would you like to hear how you end? Such a beautiful tale of the fragile psyche of man," Madame Clairvoya's voice came so softly now that only Link could hear her.

Link, both irritated and absolutely terrified, swatted the seer's hand away and took several steps backwards, "Thanks, but no thanks. Just tell us where the Rabbids are hiding, and we'll be on our way."

"The Rabbids? Ha! Why do you blindly chase such idiotic creatures? The one you should truly be after is much more powerful than the Rabbids and is hiding right here in this mansion as we speak. Of course, after that powerful last reading, I feel I have depleted all of the psychic energy stored within your gauntlet."

"Meaning...?"

"The other gauntlet! Now!!" Madame Clairvoya demanded in an eerie voice, stretching her hand out to Link and glaring at him as though she were trying to pierce through his very soul with her gaze.

"Wait just a second! Why are you only coming after MY stuff?!"

"I said now!" Madame Clairvoya reached forward again, managing to latch onto Link's right arm and yank the gauntlet away. Link swore that he felt his shoulder pop as the ghost turned his gauntlet every which way before she looked inside of it as she had the other one and made a disgusted face. "Tch! How pathetic! Not even the slightest hint that a human being ever touched this gauntlet! How am I supposed to get any sort of reading off of this?! I can just barely see that squirrel who lives in your yard with this much energy!"

"What are you-a ghost or a pawn shop?! If you can see a squirrel four countries away, then you should be able to see another room in this Goddesses-forsaken mansion perfectly fine! Don't you think you've caused Link enough torment as it is?!" Zelda screamed, which earned her startled looks from the other Smashers and the clairvoyant spirit herself. The princess blushed in embarrassment; she rarely ever lost her temper like that. "W-Well, she has... Stealing and... and saying all those things... I'm sorry."

"Do not apologize, child. You are correct," Madame Clairvoya smiled charmingly at Zelda as she once again placed her hands against the crystal ball, only this time only her hands glowed rather than her entire body. "Your true enemy is currently hiding out on the second floor, in Nana's Room. The door is already unlocked, so reaching her should be no problem. In fact, it may lift your spirits to know that she won't be difficult to defeat in her current body, either. But once she shows her true form, do not let your guards down for anything. She looks for any doubts or fears you may have in your hearts and will exploit them until she is able to take over, and since you five seem to be some of the strongest of your friends, she'll target you first," Madame Clairvoya sighed as she retracted her hands into the folds of her robes and nodded in satisfaction. "The spirits have left me, and so I know that it is my time to go. That is why you have come, is it not? The Master Sword should do finely in finishing me off. It is the Blade of Evil's Bane, after all. Better hurry-I'd hate to see your friends die because of your indecisiveness," Madame Clairvoya tilted her head back toward the ceiling, laughing in such a way that Link and Zelda couldn't help but think of Ganondorf.

And it was for that exact reason that Link unsheathed the Master Sword and cleaved the ghostly seer in half in less than a second. There was a momentary blinding flash of light as the ghost disappeared, just as there had been when she'd appeared, before the lights to both the Mirror Room and the Fortune-teller's Room flickered back to life.

But the Smashers were already gone.

"Slow...Slow...Sl-Wait, it's getting faster. Faster...Faster...Red! Wait...No, just another stupid Boo Ball. Wasn't catching you all the first time bad enough?!" Falco sweat dropped as Luigi stormed angrily around The Artist's Studio on the third floor, Game Boy Horror pressed against his face. Vincent Van Gore, the gallery ghost who'd resided in the studio, had long since been eradicated from the premises, but Luigi insisted on also catching all fifty of the Boos who hid in the rooms after the lights came back on, making the task of searching every room on the third floor for the elusive Rabbids incredibly slow in coming. Falco was just grateful that this was the last room... "Ah ha!" Falco glanced over to see Luigi had managed to find the round, white ghost and was chasing it around the room with the vacuum on, watching as its health quickly dropped from 300 to 246 to 109 to 28 to 3...

...When the Luigi's Mansion Theme digitally rang from the GBH and Luigi stopped to see that Link was calling him, giving the Boo just enough time to escape through the ceiling and out of Luigi's reach. Luigi groaned, pressing the A button on the small device so that he could see Link, albeit shakily."Hello?"

"Hey. We found out where the Rabbids' leader is hiding."

"That's great! We're just finishing up here. Where do you want us to meet up at?"

"Outside of Nana's Room on the second floor. We're on our way to find Pit's group now, so we might be a few minutes. Is that okay?"

"Yeah, of course. You don't have to ask that," Luigi jumped as he felt a hand on his shoulder, realizing that Marth had come up behind him and was looking down at Link through the screen, as well, his brows knitted together with concern.

"Are you feeling okay? You look kind of pale."

"Yeah, I'm fine."

"You're trembling."

"I said I'm fine. I just...This ghost named Madame Clairvoya saw my future and told me I'm going to go insane and kill myself. I'm just a little shaken up, okay?" Marth stiffened at the slight tremor he caught in Link's voice as he said this, knowing that he was dead serious. Luigi's face drained of all color. He remember Madame Clairvoya and her predictions, and everything that she'd told him had been true. Mario's capture, Bowser's revival, everything. If she said Link would commit suicide, then...

"Ha! That ghost doesn't know what she's talking about!" Marth yelled, causing Link, Luigi, Ness, and Falco to jump. "You may be the dumbest person I've ever met, but even you aren't dumb enough to kill yourself! I know for a fact that I could beat you to death with the blunt end of my sword before you'd ever go insane enough to do something as dumb as commit suicide!"

Link stared at Marth through the GBH in absolute shock, then closed his eyes and chuckled, "Thank you. I needed to hear that." Link ended the call without another word, leaving a very flustered Marth gawking at the screen. Had he...really just gotten thanked for insulting Link?

"Wow, Marth. Here I thought you were the nastiest jerk on the planet, but you're actually a big softy on the inside, huh?" Marth jumped, looking over to see Ness smiling up at him.

"What are you talking about?"

"Oh, come on, Mr. Big Bad Prince of Altea. We all know what you did."

"I called Link an idiot. That's it, really."

"That's funny. The way I heard it, you told Link he was above so much as thinking of killing himself."

"That's not what I said!"

"You made him feel better, Marth. I saw it. Hearing that from you relieved him to the point of tears," Luigi whispered.

"Tears?!" Now that Marth thought about it, he did see some sort of shimmer on Link's cheeks when Link chuckled, and the way he worded what he said...

"Can't we discuss Marth's new friendship with Link some other time? They found the Rabbids' leader; this crazy ass mess is finally going to end! Now, let's go!" Falco yelled. Ness and Luigi nodded, quickly following Falco out the door, while Marth gaped at him in shock.

"I'm not friends with that piece of garbage!"Marth blushed bright red when he received no answer, quickly chasing after his friends until they were in the small segment of hallway shared between the Bathroom, the Washroom, and Nana's Room. Oddly enough, Pit's group was already there waiting for them, as well as two more comrades from the Subspace Emissary.

Luigi gawked at the two new Smashers in their group, hardly believing his eyes, "Toon Link? Satoshi? What are-"

But Luigi was the least of Toon Link's worries as he ran over to Ness and practically tackled the poor boy to the floor, each one giggling as they relayed everything that had happened to each other in the month that they'd been apart. Even the most cold hearted of the Smashers couldn't help but smile at this warm display of friendship, and it only got worse as the five members of Link's group rounded the corner.

Toon Link didn't even need to look up to know that his predecessor was standing before him, just as Link only needed a small glimpse of the light green cloth that made up Toon Link's hat to know that his reincarnation had returned. There was only a split second where Link's marine blue eyes met Toon Link's charcoal orbs before the child was on his feet, scrawny arms wrapped tightly around Link's waist while his face found its way into his predecessor's chest. Needless to say, everyone was stunned by Toon Link's reaction, given the fact that everyone had only parted ways for a month, but Link was the most surprised out of everyone. Wasn't it Toon Link who had refused to so much as look his way ever since their time together on the Halberd?

"Thank the Goddesses..." Toon Link muttered, squeezing Link tighter. The Hero of Twilight didn't miss the way his reincarnation's voice cracked, nor did he miss the slight dampness he was beginning to feel in his tunic where Toon Link's face was. "I-I thought you were...Everything went black...and Tetra disappeared, so I thought Zelda..."

"Toonie," Toon Link stiffened at the old nickname given to him specifically by Link, glancing up just in time to see Link crouch down on his knees so they were eye-level, "calm down. I can't understand what you're saying."

"Really? I figured you of all people would get it," Satoshi said, holding a Poke Ball in his hand tightly. "According to Toon Link, the future as we know it is gone."

"What?"

"It's true," Toon Link stepped back, wiping his face on his sleeve before continuing. "One minute I was with Tetra and the others, building Hyrule Castle, the next...the sky turned black, and Tetra was gone...and Ganon was alive again. He was stronger, and h-he...I don't know how I escaped. The Triforce started glowing, and the next thing I knew I was in the World of Trophies, and I ran into Satoshi..."

"It's no coincidence," Satoshi cut in, "he appeared there. Because you two met and distorted the time line in the World of Trophies, his Triforce probably pulled him back there to find you and make sure you were still alive."

"And why were you there?"

"The same reason you're all here. I was chasing those Rabbids, and...I was following Nana."

"Nana?!"

"She's...I don't know how to explain it. Possessed? Some...thing...took over her body and completely changed her. She came to my world and kidnapped my friend. She said she was adding him to Ganondorf's 'collection,' whatever that means."

"Maybe she's the enemy Madame Clairvoya spoke of," Meta Knight mused.

"Heh, Nana in Nana's Room. How ironic," Mario smirked, turning to the others. "Well, what are we waiting for? We know where the enemy is, and we know who the enemy is. All we need now is the enemy's weakness, and that'll be one chapter of this insanely stupid Rabbid hunt finished. Now let's go!"

"Right!" The Smashers each prepared their respective weapons, items, and spells while Mario reached for the doorknob. He grabbed the brass knob, turned it ever so slowly, although it still creaked, and...

**To Be Continued!**

**Me? Own Super Smash Bros.? Ha, ha...Very funny, Dr. Jones.**

**I am So So So SO sorry for the incredibly late update (and the cliffy, but mostly the late update!!) How long's it been? Ten months? Really, there are a few factors that led this chapter to be so late: 1) I found out literally the day after I posted my last chapter that I was being forced to move up north and change schools 2) Thanks to said move, I no longer have ANY internet unless I go to the library 3) I've been sick nearly every day since I posted the last chapter; I tried to get this done in April, but I actually blacked out onto the terminal...then this last month I had a fever of 102.3 degrees F 4) Since changing schools, I have a new essay for English literally every two weeks to type**

**On the bright side, my next post is a promised double update since the chapter after the next one is already done, but the next chapter is my favorite part.**

**Sorry to my reviewers: Since I can't access my email thanks to the whole "no internet" thing, I'll have to get back to you whenever I DO get online next through your FF accounts (hopefully, right as I post this)**

**Well, R&R!**


	8. Chapter 8

There was absolutely no time to prepare. Only a split second passed after Mario opened the door before it was blown off its hinges by a blast of dark energy, which knocked everyone back, through the wall to the bathroom, and through the far wall of the bathroom and, thus, completely out of the mansion and into the otherwise quiet courtyard below, creating a large cloud of dust and rubble upon impact. Pit was the first one to recover from the explosion and the shock of falling two stories thanks to his high stamina as an angel, then Zelda, Peach, Fox, Mario, Falco, Ness, and Lucas, thanks to their reflective abilities, and finally the other Smashers were able to slowly regain their footing.

"What the hell...was that?!" Marth asked.

"I don't know. Why don't you tell me?" The Smashers all looked up as Nana floated down to the courtyard, one hand on her hip and the other over-enthusiastically waving at her former friends. "Hiiiii, guuuuys!"

Everyone tensed, Satoshi, fully aware of what Nana was capable of in this state, gripped the Poke Ball in his hand so tightly that the few who saw him thought he would break it. Nana caught sight of this gesture, as well, floating down so that she was only about a foot away from him, smiling so widely that it was disturbing.

"Ah, Toshi! I'm so glad you came! Did you think about my offer? Did ya?"

"Cut the crap! You know damn well I'd never join you!"

"Whaaaat?" Nana wailed, causing a few of the Smashers to cover their ears, the more sound-sensitive Hylians in particular, "Why? Do you really want to stay with them? I'm already stronger than all of you. I mean, even Shigeru saw that-"

"He...what?"

"Oh, yeah. As soon as he saw Lord Ganondorf, he cried for mercy so loudly the entire castle heard. It was absolutely adorable!" Nana laughed, and Satoshi finally lost it. He lifted his arm to call out a Pokemon, but Ike immediately ran over and grabbed it to prevent him from attacking.

"Calm down. She's just playing games with you. If you attack, you'll be playing right into her plan."

Satoshi glanced back at Ike, then at Nana, relaxing his arm so that Ike would let go, "Right. Sorry."

"Ike's right. We need a plan. You've fought her before; do you know if she has a weakness?" Meta Knight asked.

"No. Pikachu used his Final Smash on her, but it didn't even phase her. She even told me the only way to get her out of Nana's body is to kill Nana."

"That's what she thinks!" Mario yelled confidently, cracking his knuckles and stepping up so that he was the closest one to the possessed Ice Climber. "I bet all we need to do is run out her stamina, and she'll be forced out of Nana, just like all the Shadow Bug Clones and Bosses in the World of Trophies. It's a group of the world's finest warriors against her. No problem!"

"Really? 'No problem,' am I?" Nana smirked, lifting one hand palm up so the Smashers could see a dark energy ball form in her palm. "We'll see about that. Of course, it's hardly fair that it's just li'l ol' me against all of you, now is it?"

Nana tossed the ball onto the ground, and, sure enough, at least one hundred Rabbids of varying size, color, and weaponry appeared, eyes already glowing red as they screamed (What else?) "Hwaa!"

"Okaaay, that...might be a problem," Mario admitted.

"And that's only the beginning, unless, of course, any of you would like to join our side. Any takers?" Nana looked around, meeting nothing but hateful glares in every face there, "No? Okay, have it your way!" Nana snapped her fingers, which caused the Rabbids to rush into battle.

Over a hundred Rabbids rushing toward sixteen unprepared, mostly unarmed Smashers.

"Oh, yeah. This isn't good. This is the part of the story where the bad things happen," Mario muttered.

"Then try to come up with a plan, will ya?" Falco replied.

"What kind of plan?! In case you've forgotten, the last time we faced this many Rabbids, they outnumbered us, outran us, beat us down, and almost killed us!"

"Yeah, and in case you've forgotten, there were only four of us; now there's sixteen. Do the math, genius!"

"Why I oughta-"

"Guys!" Fox yelled, breaking the bickering duet from their personal fight-and not a moment too soon, considering several of the other Smashers had begun fighting the Rabbids off to keep them at bay, "I've got a plan, okay? Calm down," Fox turned toward the others, many of whom had taken on a circle formation to protect the weaker Smashers from being attacked, "Here's the deal, okay? Our main goal is Nana, but as long as the Rabbids are protecting her, there's no way to get close. We need to figure out a way to wipe out as many Rabbids as possible to clear a path toward Nana," Fox then looked around, pointing out Meta Knight, Kirby, Satoshi, Mario, Luigi, Marth, Ike, Toon Link, and Link, "Head-to-headers, I want you to try to make your way toward Nana," Fox then pointed out Zelda, Peach, Lucas, and Ness, "Defenders, I want you to stay close to the head-to-headers; if you see Nana prepare to strike, protect them at all cost," Fox then pointed out the last members of the Smashers-Pit, Falco, and himself, "Long- rangers, I want you to put all your effort into knocking out enemies you see trying to strike from behind, and, most importantly, if you think you can land a hit on Nana, do everything you can to make it so. Understand?"

Almost immediately after Fox finished his strategical meeting, the others quickly formed their respective groups, the "head-to-headers" instantly beginning their assault on the Rabbid Army with the "defenders" quickly following. As the Rabbids saw the almost impenetrable walls of the Smashers' first line of offense, they gave pause, obviously not expecting to see the warriors as well-prepared for battle as they were.

And this was what gave the Smashers their chance to leap into battle. Unlike the horror the Mario Bros., the members of Star Fox, and Princess Peach faced when they fought the Rabbids, it was actually the Smashers beating back and overpowering the Rabbids, especially now that the simple tools the Rabbids had for battle were easily dispatched of by a few swings of the swords. Luigi, in particular, with the Rabbit-Sucking feature of his tricked out Poltergust 5000, was making quick work of the Rabbids as he effortlessly sucked in about three at a time before the Rabbids would grow weary of this trick and avoid him, only to be met by a cruel end at the edge of a sword. Mario, again, was using a Fire Flower Power-Up to blow away any Rabbids missed by the swordsmen and Luigi, while Kirby, like Luigi, was sucking in Rabbids, disappointed that swallowing them had not given him any abilities.

Nana watched this all, unphased by the quick work she saw the Smashers were making of her army, until...

"Pikachu, use Skull Bash!!" Nana turned around, barely jumping out of the way before an electrified Pikachu rushed past her, and then looking down to see Satoshi had somehow managed to get behind her. She smirked, lifting her hands and forming a ball of dark energy in her hands.

"It'll take more than that to beat me, kid..."

"How about this, then?" Nana spun around, only seeing a flash of blue before Marth lept into the air and performed a Dolphin Slash, piercing through Nana's side and causing her to inadvertantly cancel her spell. She whirled as Marth landed gracefully beside Satoshi, hateful red eyes glowing darkly as she attempted another spell, fully intending to wipe out both Smashers at once. This time, she did manage to cast the spell as desired-until Zelda jumped in the way, cast Nayru's Love, and caused Nana's attack to reflect off the protective barrier and back onto her. Nana snarled, beginning to lower herself down to the three Smashers' level, exactly as planned so that Ike could come from behind and attack her with Aether...

"Fools," Nana smirked, and, in a move that caused every Smasher to jump, reached back and grabbed Ragnell as Ike swung upwards for his attack. Before the Crimean mercenary could even try to twist away, Nana herself twisted his arm, causing Ike to involuntarily release his blessed sword before she pulled him around to the front so that the others could see both of them clearly. "Hmm, another handsome one. You'll make a good addition to Lord Ganondorf's collection, too. Once all that nasty energy is gone..." And Satoshi, as well as the others, were forced to watch as Nana did to Ike what she'd done to Shigeru- she lowered her lips to his, and the orange and black mist left her body and entered his, causing the hero to cry out in agony as his lifeforce was drained. Zelda attempted to free Ike by using Din's Fire, but, while the attack landed and caused a clear wound on Nana's back, it didn't even phase the possessed Ice Climber-quite the opposite, in fact; Nana's wound instantly healed, as did the wound left by Marth. She was healing herself using Ike's vitality, and just like before, Satoshi was helpless to stop her from depleting one of his friends' bodies to nothing but skin and bones.

Link and Toon Link, who, until that point had been doing all they could to fight off the Rabbids, stopped as they saw their friend's life being drained to heal Nana and attempted to rush to his aid, and, amazingly enough, all it took to break Nana's spell over Ike was a slash of Toon Link's Master Sword-the Blade of Evil's Bane. The sacred power of the legendary sword was enough to send a painful jolt of energy through Nana's body, causing her entire body to convulse and thus the remaining Rabbids to vanish and her grip on Ike to loosen and send him plumeting to the ground, along with Nana. She screamed in agony, having just enough energy to knock Toon Link away from her, but not enough to pull the Master Sword out.

"Damn...you...Damn you!!!" she screamed, clawing and kicking at the air pitifully. And pitiful she herself was- blood everywhere, tears of anguish streaking her cheeks, fully red eyes trying to seek out the one who had done this to her. She fuzzily saw the outline of someone in green with pointed ears and blond hair, but it took her a while to realize that what she was seeing was in fact Link rather than his reincarnation...and that meant another Master Sword, this one much more powerful than its twin of a different time line.

"Time to put our old space-time theory to the test," Link said, holding the sword just above Nana. The magic imbued in the sword reacted to the Twilight Realm-like mist in Nana's body and glowed brightly enough that all but Link and Nana were blinded by its light, and Link without hesitation, muttered, "Stronger than all of us, huh?" before he plunged the sacred blade into Nana's chest. She screamed again, less from the pain of the actual sword entering her body than from what was happening as a result: the Master Swords, because they were from two different time lines, reacted badly to being so close to each other and were ripping apart their common medium to separate themselves- in this case Nana. Everyone flinched as they watched Nana's body literally rip itself in two except Link, who continued to watch her until she finally stopped moving, dead. "Toonie," Link said quietly, signaling to his younger reincarnation that it was time to remove his sword. They reached for their hilts simultaneously and pulled out with the sickening squish of blood. As their swords left the corpse, they saw the same black and orange mist that attacked Ike flee the lifeless vessel, and slowly, very slowly, Nana's body returned to its former shape, although she was still dead.

The others could only look on in horror as Link quickly wiped the blood on his sword off onto the grass before throwing it in his sheath and running over to Ike. He lifted him into his arms-an easy task given his frail body- and carried him over to the spot where Nana was lying, being careful to lay them down so that their hands were joined. No one was sure what Link was planning-for all they knew, he was about to kill Ike and bury them together in Luigi's backyard-but as he reached into the item bag at his side and produced a particular object left behind from his hero days in Hyrule, those who recognized it almost cried with relief.

It was a bottle containing a Fairy Spirit. Link uncorked the bottle over the dead and dying, and instantly the pink fairy inside went to work healing Ike and reviving Nana. Before everyone's very eyes Ike's original physique and health returned to him while the gaping hole in Nana's chest closed and she slowly began to breathe again. When the fairy vanished, its job complete, Link pulled their hands apart and openly smiled as both Nana and Ike jolted awake simultaneously, breathing heavily and looking around in what can only be described as deep confusion. Nana in particular was confused, looking down at the blood caked into the ground beneath her and then over at the Smashers, who were all at least smiling-except Satoshi and Peach, who were more or less crying in relief.

"G-Guys? Why are we in Luigi's Mansion?" It only served to further confuse Nana that the others chuckled while Peach ran over and glomped her.

"Yay! You're back to normal!"

"Back to normal? Wha...?"

"It's...It's a long story, okay? The important thing now is you're safe, and this horrible, ugly mess...is finally over."

Pit, Fox, and Falco, still standing where they had been before to help backup the others, sighed with their own relief that the battle with the Rabbids and Nana was finally over. "I'm so glad. I was terrified Link was turning into some kind of monster," Pit whispered.

"Really? I was hoping for the exact opposite," the three Smashers froze, glancing first at each other, then behind them, Falco only able to mutter, "Oh, shit," before all three of them were blasted past the others and into the far wall before sliding weakly to their knees. The others, alarmed, turned to their slightly bruised friends, then in the direction they had come from...

...and in seconds every Smashers was on their feet, Link, in particular, standing guard over Zelda with his sword and shield drawn and ready. "Ganondorf."

"Don't sound so alarmed, boy. My dearest pet even told you herself that I was her master. Did you really think I wouldn't come to see what havoc you've wrecked on my sweet doll?" Ganondorf grinned, walking slowly toward the area Ike, Peach, and Nana occupied. Ike was quick to pick up Nana and rush to the others, but Peach, it seemed, was paralyzed with fear. She could only look on in horror as Ganondorf approached her, stopping about a yard away to look down at the blood left from Nana's death. "Oh, now was that really necessary, Link? The poor thing already suffered death once..."

Of course, it didn't exactly surprise Ganondorf that Link's attention wasn't hanging on every word Ganondorf said, considering the damsel in distress who could die in the blink of an eye at his feet. "Peach, get out of there! Run! Peach!!" Peach whimpered, feeling around for anything she could use to save herself, and Link gritted his teeth in frustration. He looked to Mario, who appeared just as terrified as Peach did, before taking a step toward running to the princess's rescue...

...Only for Toon Link to run past him as quickly as his legs would carry him, sword drawn as he rushed Ganondorf and stabbed him as he'd stabbed Nana, causing the behemoth Gerudo to stumble back onto one knee in shock as fresh blood coated the ground. It was the presence of Toon Link that jarred Peach from her trance, a tiny squeak of shock escaping her lips before she quickly ran to the others, stumbling to her knees just as she passed into safety. However, to Link this only meant that it was his reincarnation he now had to worry about.

Toon Link's arm trembled as he attempted to force the sword further into Ganondorf's body, the blood on his hand making it almost impossible for him to retain his grip on his sword. But, for all of his effort, the next thing Toon Link knew, he felt a deep chuckle vibrate through his sword, and as he looked up, he was looking into Ganondorf's terrible, bright orange eyes. "You fool," Ganondorf muttered harshly before gripping the blade and pulling it out of his body. Then, in what seemed to Toon Link like slow motion, Ganondorf's other hand came forward, revealing a transparent crystal, and he used it to punch Toon Link in the gut, sending him skidding several yards away, fallen on his side. He coughed, opening one eye slowly as he shakily propped himself up on one arm. "That's the one true consistency of you Links; you're all fools. The Hero of Time was a fool, and it seems you have inherited his stupidity. Both of you," Ganondorf smirked, holding up the clear jewel for the heroes to see. "As such, let me tell you fools about the stone I hold in my hand. This is the Diabolus Crystal. It was created by your beloved Goddesses to contain a great evil back when the world was first created. From what I hear, she was a lovely enchantress who would trick men into taking her into their villages where she would then slaughter everyone in sight and burn everything else to the ground. As punishment for her crimes, the Goddesses took away her body and forced her essence into this gem before burying it deep within Hyrule's crust. When unleashed from the gem, she can take control of any body she desires, forcing out the occupying soul and smothering it until it dies and the body belongs ultimately to her. The only problem is, she can't show her true potential if her body is too weak, but the only way to free her from a body is to kill the body. But once free she can take anyone she desires. And in my opinion," The Diabolus Crystal glowed, and the mist that had left Nana's body rose from the ground and hovered between Ganondorf and Toon Link, "the body of a legendary hero is perfect for her," Ganondorf smiled at Toon Link, whispering so low that only he could hear, "Now, die."

Toon Link's eyes widened as he struggled to stand and run, but his body still refused to cooperate, and all he saw for a split second was the mist rushing toward him before he squeezed his eyes shut, tears streaming down his cheeks as he heard the rush of the wind from the mist's hasty attack.

Then a scream of terror-his name-and he felt as though the air around him had stilled momentarily. He heard something fall to the ground-heavy, he knew, but not a body- and then, he felt arms embrace him. He opened his eyes, and the sight he beheld struck new fear in his heart. Link had run to his reincarnation as quickly as he could, jumped toward him, and grabbed him to pull him out of harm's way. He could still see the mist coming, but it was now aimed at Link, who was falling right into its path. Toon Link's heart momentarily stopped as he saw the mist connect with Link's body and Link's body resultingly jolt as his face contorted in pain and he screamed. It was at that moment that time seemed to return to normal, Link falling to the ground with Toon Link in his arms but trying to curl up into a ball to get rid of the pain seeming to strike every cell in his body. Black crackles of electricity shot out of Link's skin and into other parts of his body, and Link shook with pain as black markings continually faded in and out of his skin.

"Go..." Link muttered, trying to fight off the pain so he could stop screaming long enough to talk. "Get away...from me... I can't...fight it...Get the swords...Kill me..." Toon Link vigorously shook his head murmuring 'No' again and again while tears filled his eyes. Then suddenly, just as suddenly as they had begun, the convulsions stopped and Link was lying still, but the markings were gone.

Toon Link sniffled, wiping his tears away as he watched his former self carefully. "Link?" Tentatively, he scooted closer, "Link?" He saw Link's chest move up and down ever so slowly, yet the markings hadn't reappeared. Toon Link got just a little closer, "Link, are you o-" Link's hand shot out, wrapping around Toon Link's throat, and suddenly the black marks reappeared all over Link's skin, and as he sat up, Link smirked as though he were mad.

"Am I okay, you say? Well," Link opened his eyes, revealing that they had turned bright red, making him look almost like Sheik, "I've never been inside a man before, and this one put up enough of a fight for its body to take up most of my energy. But otherwise," Link tightened his grip on Toon Link's neck, literally strangling the poor child, "I've never felt this great in my life." Link turned to the others, who, still shocked that he had willingly sacrificed himself to keep Toon Link from being possessed, recoiled as they saw the two bright red eyes glaring at them in place of the soft marine blue orbs they usually found there. "Well, this is interesting. You were all so eager to kill me when I was Nana; why the sudden change of heart? Did you finally realize that no matter how many times you kill me, I'll just keep coming back to life? Or, is it because you're all afraid of hurting this body? I can't blame you if that's the case. It's a lovely little thing." Link looked around, grinning as he saw the stunned looks on everyone's faces before he returned his gaze to Toon Link. He even ran his hand through the child's hair, ruffling it the same way he'd often done when their paths crossed on the Halberd. "Oh, Toonie. What am I going to do with you? You're the reason I'm even here. So how should I thank you?"

Toon Link was openly crying now, face turning blue as he was forced to look at those hateful red eyes. If it wasn't for his eyes and the black markings, Toon Link would swear that he was actually being spoken to by Link rather than that horrible monster possessing him. In fact, Toon Link would even bet that it was accessing Link's memories to create that very effect, making it that much more painful that it was his closest friend strangling him. "S-Sempai..."

"'Sempai?' Ah, that's right. That's what you always called me on the Halberd. 'Mentor,' right? Funny how you waited until now to call me that. You were hoping it would somehow wake 'Link' back up, right? Remind him of his true self and urge him to fight me off? Unfortunately for you, Link's already too far gone to hear you. However, you did mean the world to him, so, just for you, I'll let you choose how you die. Would you rather I cut you to ribbons with the dagger in Link's boot, or should I destroy you from the inside out with Link's magic? 'But Link can't use magic,' you desperately think to yourself. Well, what if I told you that Link knew he was a mage his whole life, but he was so terrified of his powers that he kept it a secret from everyone and swore he would never use them as long as he lived? His one exception was when he slowed down time so he could rescue you from me. And now, the same powers that saved you are about to kill you. Isn't it simply...poetic?" Link chuckled, raising his other hand and bending his fingers inward, causing what at first started as a small flicker of light to grow into a raging inferno. "So, what'll it be? I can burn you to death very quickly, or I can take my time and slice you to pieces. Take your time deciding. There's no rush."

"That's what you think," Link turned, barely having enough time to drop Toon Link and dodge to the side as Marth rushed at him, his entire body glowing from his Final Smash, Critical Hit. He landed several feet back, behind Ganondorf even, who also had to dodge to avoid the fatal attack, before turning back to Link. "Now, you have two options, monster. Either you let Link go, or I'll kill you and force you out of him. Believe me, I've been waiting for a reason to kill Link for a long time."

"Ahh, even after that sweet moment we had in the mansion? You're heartless," Link looked back at Ganondorf, practically begging, "Lord Ganondorf, can I please kill these idiots?"

"You said yourself there's no rush. Go ahead, have fun." Ganondorf grinned as Link looked everyone over, trying to decide who he should start with. Of course, there was always the one who threw the challenge to fight at him...

"Oh, Maaaarth," Link turned to Marth, who quickly got into a fighting stance, although it did nothing to quell his shaking, as it did nothing to protect him as Link said casually, "catch," and thrust his arm out at Marth, sending a wave of energy into Marth that even his counter could not protect him from. He went flying through the far wall, landing in the first floor hallway, barely conscious and badly injured. "Next!" Link called to the others, who trembled as Link's cold eyes fell on them. With his new, keen Hylian eyes, Link saw Mario take a slight step forward and quickly pointed at him, waving his arm first right, then left, causing Mario himself to momentarily fly right, then left into the statue of the woman holding a vase beside him. "Are any of you even trying?" Link asked, taking one step forward. He saw everyone cower back, and, right away, his sights landed on Zelda and Peach, who were trying to tend to Fox, Falco, and Pit. They caught Link's stare and flinched, only to meet a soft chuckle. "Come now, I could never hurt other women, but the rest of you..." Link simply took a step and the same energy that had hit Marth struck the others, causing everyone-with the exceptions of Peach, Zelda, and Toon Link- to go flying in separate directions, most hitting the fence separating the courtyard from the forest, others flying through walls as Marth had. "Weaklings."

Link then turned back to Toon Link, who, sadly, was still trying to recover after nearly being strangled to death. As a result, Toon Link didn't have the strength to resist when Link kneeled beside him, grabbed his throat again, and lifted the dagger from out of Link's boot. Zelda and Peach tried to approach and stop him, but all it took was a flick of his finger to send them back and keep them at bay. And then, in what felt like slow motion, what few Smashers had regained their senses looked on in horror as Link plunged the knife deep into Toon Link's left shoulder, pulled it out, plunged it into his right shoulder, pulled it out again, plunged it into his stomach, and so on down until he left several stabs in his legs. And each time Link struck a new point, Toon Link shrilly howled in pain until his voice was only a harsh whisper, causing the others to helplessly cower as Link worked his way back up with the knife, this time also cutting into the child's hands until the knife was over Toon Link's throat. "You know, I expected more from a reincarnation of the Hero of Time, but you...are simply pathetic. I'll be doing the world a favor by getting rid of you. So," Link plunged the knife down into the child's neck, dragging it to the left and slightly deeper, just missing the vital jugular. He frowned, pulling the knife out and making sure it was positioned correctly to instantly kill Toon Link. He raised the knife to strike Toon Link down...

...and with a sudden jolt the knife was knocked out of his hand. He turned...and there was Pit, empty bow in hand, tears streaming down his cheeks as he fumbled back for another arrow and realized to his horror that there was only one left. All the same, he shakily loaded the arrow onto the bow, trying to steady his arms so that he could clearly shoot Link. But as both Pit and Link knew, Pit didn't have the will to kill his best friend, possessed by a great evil or not. It was for this reason that Link was able to reach back and retrieve the dagger, returning it to its sheath inside his boot before making his way toward Pit. The angel took a step back, continuing to hold the bow and arrow in his quivering hands, then another, matching Link step-for-step until Pit's back was to the small storage shed beside the statue where Mario was still lying after his brutal battering, and Link was able to get close enough to corner Pit.

"Ah, Pit. Pit, Pit, Pit. Would you really shoot me using my own bow?"

Pit trembled, squeezing his eyes shut and lowering his head, "Sh-Shut...Shut up! You're not Link!"

Link smiled at this display, reaching one hand forward to lower Pit's arms and thus his weapons. "If you're so convinced I'm not Link, then why won't you kill me? Are you afraid of what will happen to you and your friends if you try to, or are you afraid of hurting Link? After all, even if I'm not the real Link, I'm in his body. Everything I do is actually being done by him. Which makes me wonder if it would be his soul suffering in an eternal purgatory if I committed some terrible crime against the Goddesses instead of mine this time. A crime like, say," Link ran a hand through Pit's hair, "killing an angel in service to the Goddess of Light?" Pit's eyes widened as he felt Link grip his hair tightly and use it to throw him down on the ground before stomping on his chest with one boot. "The only question is, what should I use to kill it?" He glanced to the side and smiled as he saw the Master Sword, the source of the sound Toon Link had heard when Link had thrown it down as he'd rushed to Toon Link's rescue. "This should do," Pit's heart stopped as he helplessly watched Link reach for the sacred sword.

However, as soon as Link's hand was around the sword's hilt, the blade glowed bright gold as a long, snaking spiral of white magic climbed the blade to Link's body, causing him to recoil in pain as the purity of the sword rejected the evil in Link's body. Link quickly released the sword, gasping for air as the magic left his body and the pain subsided. "What...the hell?"

"The Master Sword is...the Blade of Evil's Bane. Only one who is worthy of being...Hero of Time and is courageous, wise, powerful, and pure of heart can wield it. You...are none of these things, Link's body...or not..." Link looked up, finding Toon Link's smug face staring right into his.

"You...!" Link got to his feet, storming over to Toon Link with the dagger redrawn, "I'll make sure you're dead this time!"

"Diabolus Angelus," Ganondorf called, causing Link to stop dead in his tracks. The Evil King raised his right hand, causing a small ball of purple energy to begin spiraling in his hand and gradually grow until it was a large portal, "you've done enough damage for today. It's time."

Link snarled but obligingly bowed, muttering, "Yes...Lord Ganondorf." Ganondorf then turned without another word and entered the portal, and Link slowly began to follow. Along the way he passed the weakened, beaten, and fallen forms of his former comrades, each of whom lowered their heads in shame as Link passed them without a glance in their direction. He paused just in front of the portal but didn't look back as he said, "If you value your lives, you won't follow me. The only reason any of you are alive is that it was Link's last wish that I spare your pathetic lives. But if we meet again, and you even think about pulling the shit you did to my old body, I won't hesitate to kill you," and Link walked through the portal and out of sight.

No words passed between the Smashers as they all stumbled to their feet and walked toward Toon Link. Nana had been saved, the Rabbids had been defeated, and they had suffered no casualties, but the Smashers knew that they had lost.

**To Be Continued...or rather, go to the next chapter! Hurry up! You can drive a pitchfork through my head for turning Link McCutie evil and almost killing Ike McHottie, Nana, and Toonie off later! What are you still doing here?! Go! Go!! Go!!!**

**...Unless you're stopping to review, in which case, review, then Go! Go!! Go!!!**


	9. Chapter 9

_**Attention!! **_**This was a double update! If you have reached this point in error, you **_**need**_** to go back to the last chapter! Need to, need to, **_**need to**_**!!! Don't start reading this unless you read the last chapter!!!**

Shock. Despair. Anger. Pain. These feelings crushed every Smashers' beings as they all simply stared on in horror either at Toon Link or at the dark portal hovering before them. The small hero was nearly unconscious from blood loss, but he could still fuzzily feel and hear everything around him. Pain racked his body in brief, horrible spasms, and everyone's words echoed slowly in his head.

"We need to clot the bleeding! Does anyone have a blanket we could use?" Someone yelled from above him. It sounded like Peach.

"Here," someone else replied, though Toon Link couldn't place the voice. Toon Link groaned softly as he was lightly lifted from the ground and soon became encircled by feather soft fabric that faintly smelled like the forest. Just like Link... Toon Link slowly opened his eyes, looking up to see Pit garbed now in only his black shorts and muscle shirt, softly running a hand through the child's hair, "It's gonna be okay, little guy. We'll get you healed up as soon as we can. I promise."

"And sempai?" Toon Link groggily whispered.

"We'll get Link back. Don't worry about him," Pit smiled down at the Hero of Winds, turning to look up at Satoshi, who was also smiling. "You find it?"

Satoshi nodded, lifting a Poke Ball and throwing it to the ground between them, shouting, "Go, Manaphy!" The Poke Ball opened to reveal a light blue Pokemon that floated just in front of Toon Link. The Pokemon Trainer nodded to Zelda, who lifted a dark blue ocarina to her lips and played the gentle notes to '_The Song of Storms_', causing dark clouds to move in over the Smashers before it began raining hard on everyone. Toon Link shuddered as the cool water stung his cuts and barely heard Satoshi yell over the rain, "Manaphy, use Hydration!"

"Manaphy!" The Pokemon chirped happily, beginning to glow a bright white. It placed a hand to Toon Link's forehead and the raindrops also began glowing, flowing into the Pokemon's body and into Toon Link. The healing spell clotted the child's blood and closed most of his injuries before the storm ended and Manaphy could no longer use Hydration. All that remained was the almost fatal slice across the young hero's neck, now glazed over by a scab, and the blood that had already stained Pit's toga.

"Amazing job," Satoshi whispered calmly, throwing the Poke Ball back down and calling Manaphy back. He put it back into his backpack before kneeling down across from Pit, inspecting the little healer's work, "Really amazing job. He should be fine for now, but his body's probably still in shock from the attack."

"So he can't walk or fend for himself," Pit concluded, running his fingers through the reincarnation of his best friend's hair again. "Maybe we should send him back home..."

"No!!" Toon Link screamed, though his voice was hoarse and he looked about ready to pass out at any minute. "I wanna stay here and help sempai!"

"How, little guy? You can't fight, you can't move, and you're barely still conscious. If you stay here, you'll only put yourself in danger. You could die."

"So what?! I can help you find him. I found him before using the Triforce of Courage; that's how I met up with you! See?" Toon Link weakly flipped his hand over to reveal the shining Triforce piece. It seemed to be resonating with the dark portal hovering in front of the Smashers. "Someone can carry me, and I'll use the Triforce to help you find Link. Please, Pit?"

Pit sighed in defeat. Taking Toon Link could put his health at serious risk, but if he didn't take him, he'd most likely crawl his way back and end up killing himself from the stress it would put on him to do so. Toon Link would get there one way or another. "Fine. You can come, but the minute we run into trouble I'm sending you home. Understand?"

"Thank you," Toon Link whispered. Pit sighed but smiled as he picked Toon Link up and cradled him in his arms like a small child.

"Yeah, yeah. If I refused, you'd just come back and make me take you. You're just as stubborn as Link is."

"Duh," Toon Link muttered, forcing a know-it-all grin, "I _am _his reincarnation, you know," Toon Link grimaced in pain, staring up into Pit's eyes, "and the Hero of Time's."

"You two never did tell me who he is."

"Save Link...Then we'll tell you. Hope you...have lots of time on your hands..." And Toon Link lost consciousness, slouching down into Pit's arms. The angel's eyes softened as he stared down at the child in his arms before promptly handing him over to Peach. He'd be safe with her; she was incredibly protective of Link's chibi reincarnation, and she could defend him if the need arose from any kind of attack while Pit could only stop projectiles...

"Toon Link's really worried about Link, huh?" Pit turned to see Peach rocking the boy in her arms back and forth gently, her eyes filled with worry. "Makes sense I guess...They're like brothers...Or an over-protective father and his son."

Pit smiled, forcing back tears, "Yeah...like when they had that 'talk'..." Pit turned away from Peach and instead looked to the portal, letting a single tear escape and roll down his cheek. Was that to be the last of his memories with Link before this mess began?

_Several Months Ago...And A/N, I don't want any flames saying "Toon Link wasn't a part of your team before you reached the Entrance to Subspace." I wanted Link and Toon Link to meet before Tabuu was beaten so they could bond more before they were sent home._

"Done...finally..." Marth sighed, wiping his hands clean with a fancy white handkerchief before taking a place on the floor between Satoshi and Lucas, "No thanks to _somebody_, _Link._"

"Ah, shut up," Toon Link and Link hissed simultaneously, causing Peach to giggle. They were sitting in the Battleship Halberd waiting until they reached the new ball of Subspace that had engulfed the Floating Island of the Ancients. Everyone's nerves were stretched to the limit, and nothing anyone did seemed to calm them down. The only Smashers who seemed at least a little relaxed were Lucas, Nana, Popo, Ness, and Toon Link, but even they weren't immune to the effects their soon to come battle with Bowser, Ganondorf, and who knew who or what else were having on their stress. The fact one of the engines had nearly had a melt down just now wasn't helping anyone, either.

Toon Link sighed in frustration, watching Link and Marth glare daggers at each other while Pit and Ike tried to get them to calm down. Really, no one understood why those two seemed to hate each other so much, not even Link. He himself had admitted once when he and Toon Link were discussing their pasts that the minute he saw Prince Marth he'd decided he hated his guts, though he really couldn't think up a good reason for this. He also readily admitted that only Pit and Toon Link could ever get him to calm down when he began his arguments with the haughty ruler, and since Pit seemed to be having little luck getting his friends calm, Toon Link decided to step up to the challenge before swords began flashing.

"Hey, sempai?" Link broke his glare from Marth, turning a genuine smile onto his reincarnation. Link had mood swings worse than the women did. "Um, I was wondering...uh..."

"Yes?" Link asked expectantly, the other Smashers also turning their attention to Toon Link. The poor kid gulped, his heart beginning to race. He always got nervous when he was the center of attention...

"Uh, I was wondering...How do I put this?" Toon Link cleared his throat, turning bright red. He really did want to know; the best explanation he'd gotten before was from Captain Falcon, but his answer was ridiculous. He treated Toon Link like he was five... "Sempai...Where do babies come from?"

"What?!!" Link's face went bright red, and Ike fell over, holding his sides and laughing so hard tears came to his eyes. Pit stared back and forth between Link, Toon Link, and Ike, wondering what the big deal was. A man and woman decided they wanted to have a baby, went to Palutena, and a new baby was created from the whitest clouds in the sky. What was so complicated or embarrassing or funny about that? He'd seen it himself once just after he became Captain of Palutena's Army. Pit voiced his thoughts, which only caused Ike to laugh harder and Link to blush worse. "Is it different on Earth?"

Ike managed to pull himself together with help from Marth, who seemed to have also forgotten his argument with Link thanks to Toon Link's unexpected question, and used his friend to prop himself up so he could watch how Link took this question.

Without a doubt, the Hylian was embarrassed beyond all hope, "Toonie, are you sure you want to know?"

"Uh huh. I asked Tetra and she didn't know, Lucas and Ness don't know, Captain Falcon's answer was just 'the birds and the bees' and that's all he'd say, and when I asked Ike he said to ask you." Link shot the mercenary a look that could kill and he fell back over, his composure completely lost.

"Way to put me on the spot, pal."

"Anytime...I think my ribs are broken..."

Link sighed deeply, turning to Toon Link and trying to think out his answer. The others leaned in expectantly. This should be good, "Are you absolutely sure you want to know?"

"Yep!"

"Um...Okay...Too-No, Link," Link cleared his throat, his blush reaching the ends of his ears and his neck. The talk he got when he was thirteen from Rusl...He hoped he didn't scar Toon Link the way Rusl scarred him, "Link, it really all begins when a man and a woman fall in love...or get really drunk and just think they're in love. They go somewhere dark and secluded, take off all their clothes, don't use any protection or pills, and..."

_Ten minutes and countless scarring details later..._

"...The doctors cut the umbilical cord, clean the baby and run it through a few tests...I forget what they're called...force out the after birth, and that in a nutshell is where babies come from." The entire area of the Halberd was quiet, save for the roar of the rockets and engines. Not a single passenger save for R.O.B. and Mr. Game &Watch was without a blush, and Toon Link's eyes were the size of watermelons.

"So babies start out as unfertilized eggs and sperm?"

"Yep."

"And sex is when a man-"

"Let's not go around repeating that part, please."

"And you know this because...?"

"My mentor told me when I turned thirteen."

"Oh," Toon Link sat back in his spot, face rivaling tomato soup in color. "I'm never _ever_ having babies..."

"Understandably..." Link muttered, running a hand through his dirty blond hair. He looked across the circle to find Ike, face a bluish hue, sprawled out on the floor and gasping for breath. In battle he seemed like one of the most serious and level-headed of all of them, but outside of the front lines he was less mature than the younger Smashers. Link sighed, glancing to his side to find Pit, face the same bright red Link's had been throughout the majority of the story, unconscious with twin trails of blood running down the sides of his face from his nostrils. Poor guy would probably never look at another of the "cloud babies" the same way again...

_End flashback_

...And he hadn't. Pit sighed deeply, wiping away his tears with the back of his gauntlet and looking into the dark portal leading to the realm where Link and Ganondorf were. The monster who'd attacked Toon Link couldn't possibly be Link. Link was the kindest, most caring, and most loving soul Pit knew, perhaps even rivaling Pit as far as purity was concerned. That was how Pit imagined Link, and it only seemed to fuel his overactive imagination to envision Link how he was now: An angel trapped in the Devil's hand. So, as Link risked his own life to save countless lives, the other Smashers would risk their lives to save him. Pit turned toward his fellow warriors, pulling out the bow Link had entrusted to him several days before to fend off the Rabbids, and determinedly walked over to the rest of the group, letting his instincts as Captain of the Goddess of Light's bodyguards take control.

"In one day we'll head into the portal and save Link. We have no way of knowing what's waiting for us on the other side, so everyone should head home and prepared themselves as best as they can. I'll stay and watch the portal to make sure nothing changes until then. Understood?" And Pit shouted with the same commanding voice he was known for among his troops and on a few occasions the other Smashers, "All troops, move out!" Pit's fellow Smashers nodded, each one using their own methods to leave and find supplies.

The young captain sighed once his fellow Smashers were gone, turning back toward the portal and staring into its spinning depths. He should have left, too...He only had one arrow left in his quiver since his battle against Nana and the Rabbids, but if that thing controlling Link happened to emerge again while they were busy preparing, Pit would never forgive himself...

_"__**Spoken like a true leader. I knew I'd made the right choice in sending you to Earth, Captain Pit.**__"_

Pit gasped, turning to find his beloved Goddess, Palutena, standing before him, smiling down upon him gently. "Goddess!" Pit fell to one knee reverently, bowing his head in respect to his ruler.

_"__**There is no need for such formalities, Pit. Rise,**__"_ Pit looked up, slowly getting back onto his feet. _"__**I am afraid I knew this day to be coming, but I overlooked it because I expected Link would be able to fend off the darkness on his own. Apparently, we overestimated his abilities.**__"_

"We?"

_"__**Yes. The Goddess of Courage. Farore. Just as I guide you, Farore has been guiding Link for much of his life. She put much of her faith in Link's ability to stave off evil, and now he may be lost to the darkness forever,**__" _Palutena paused to let her words sink in before she continued quietly. _"__**The thing that currently holds Link's soul hostage is known as the Diabolus Angelus. Its name comes from words from Latin and Middle Latin meaning Devil Angel. When the world was created many millennia ago, Diabolus Angelus was created along with it. It is an evil entity that takes control of those with weakened or defenseless hearts and slowly consumes their souls until their bodies belong solely to it. When Link risked himself to save the younger Link, it left him vulnerable enough that the demon could take control. Farore and her sister Goddesses, Din and Nayru, were unable to destroy Diabolus Angelus, so they simply took its soul and trapped it in a stone known now as the Diabolus Crystal and buried it within the earth...**__"_

"But Ganondorf found it, tested it on Nana, and then decided to use it on Link. He wasn't aiming at Toon Link at all; he knew Link would jump in the way to protect him," Pit clenched his fists at his sides, feeling the wood of Link's bow quiver in his hand.

_"__**That's right. And now that Diabolus Angelus has control of Link's body, it will drain his soul of its strength until it turns to nothing. But do not feel discouraged; hope yet remains,**__" _Palutena raised her right hand to reveal a familiar ball of light, but instead of transforming into a bow the ball flew onto Pit's left arm, transforming into the two halos that allowed him to use Ethereal Arrows, _"__**I've returned your ability to use my arrows, captain, but Link's bow will have to do as the vessel from which you shoot them. This bow may not look like much, but it is far more powerful than it looks. Until you reach Link, these arrows should be more than enough to take out Ganondorf's minions.**__"_

"Thank you, Goddess. I only hope I am worthy of wielding your arrows in combat. However, you mention that they will only suffice until I reach Link. Am I to take this to mean there is more to your gift?"

_"__**Brave and observant; the qualities of any good leader,**__"_ Palutena walked up to Pit, taking the single arrow left in his quiver and holding it in both of her hands, _"__**but it is no longer my gift I present to you, but Farore's,**__"_ The arrow glowed a brilliant white until it suddenly transformed so the head was shaped like a pen tip and the entire arrow appeared to be made from gold. _"__**This is a Holy Arrow, to be used only in your battle with Link. You must aim carefully and strike Link through the heart with it. That is all you will be able to do to help him. Another shall accompany you in battle, and he shall handle the rest. However, you should learn now that you'll be hurt when you encounter your aid.**__" _Palutena returned the arrow to Pit's quiver, and he bowed once again.

"Thank you for your aid, Goddess. Is there anything I can do to assist you in return?"

_"__**No. The safe return of the Hero of Twilight shall be more than enough. Although, I do have a message to relay to him: I knew all along he was pretending to be ill to let you stay; Link has never been a very good liar, even in his past lives. Well, thank you, Captain Pit. Good luck.**__"_

Pit reverently took one of Palutena's gloved hands, kissing the back of it gently and not daring to rise until her image had disappeared. "Thank you, Goddess," Pit slowly glanced down at the Hero's Bow, extending his arm and slowly grabbing the string before yanking it back. Sure enough, the rings on his arm effortlessly glided down and now encompassed a glowing blue arrow, though these arrows were slightly skinnier to make up for the bow's smaller size. Pit released the string and thus the arrow, causing the rings to spin back up onto his arm and the arrow to go flying. Pit carefully manipulated the arrow so it went in a zig zag pattern before it hit the ground, noticing the skinnier size made the arrows easier to control than on Palutena's Bow.

The young angel sighed contentedly, wishing he had daggers or a dual-bladed polearm to fight with as well, but at least now he wasn't completely defenseless. He looked into the quiver strapped to his side to see the Holy Arrow faintly glowing, and he carefully lifted it into his hands to inspect it. _"...aim carefully and strike Link through the heart with it," _Pit let these words slowly sink in, and despite his faith in the Goddess of Light he nearly collapsed from the realization of what this arrow was for.

Pit was going to have to kill Link.

**To Be Continued!**

**A/N...Duh duh DUN!! So, now Toon Link is safe, but Link must die! Honestly, is Palutena insane, or does she simply have a trump card up her sleeve she decided not to tell Pit about? She is sending him "aid" after all...**

**And now, in the hopes of avoiding the pitchfork to the face I said you could run through me after this chapter time for Review Replies because I finally realized that you actually can edit documents after uploading them:**

**NinjaSheik: Thank you! Hooray, reviewer #3! I hope to hear more from you soon!**

**Captain Black Knight: Yes, it's true; you aren't alone anymore, but you were the first reviewer to my story, so you'll always have a special place in my heart ^_^. Yes, Zelda is oblivious, but you can't blame her for not knowing what Seven Minutes in Heaven is; she's lived a very sheltered life, you know, being a princess. I know Luigi's pain oh so well, spending ten minutes tracking each 300 life Boo through the mansion, but at least the mansion part of the story is over so he can rest in peace (okay, that came out wrong). Luckily, everyone's so concentrated on Link being possessed that he didn't notice all the damage to his house now. And, since we seem to share a common fandom of Link, it may make you happy to know this isn't the end of Link in this story; why...is a secret.**

**The DayDreaming: Well, you certainly saw how the possession factor played out in the story. As for Popo and Shigeru...that's, for now, a mystery. For now, Angel Land is...kinda in good hands (the order I gave the angels in is actually how they're ranked, so Ika is in charge without Pit around). And now, for your thing with Pit and Link getting together, here is my reply: I love LinkxPit!! Unfortunately, I know plenty of people who hate yaoi, so I held off for them (that LinkxPit moment last chapter...so almost turned into a makeout scene ^_^). However, it may lift your spirits to know a certain pink princess will give you all the LinkxPit you could ask for (and show what I do when I play Brawl). Ah, all the dirty pictures I've taken in two years...^_^**

**Sapphiredragon345: Wow, you probably hated me for almost killing Toonie, but at least he's alive and well other than the shock. Luigi probably hates me, too, for destroying more of his mansion (Hee, oopsie). Thanks for liking my story enough to review!**

**LinkWarriorInGreen: I love your name, and you got the answer to why Link and Marth hate each other so much: they have no idea themselves! There might be more to it later; but for now, clueless.**

**I in no way own Super Smash Bros. outside of Melee, which I've played for 600+ hours and Brawl, which I've played for 400+ hours; they're Nintendo's.**

**So....R & R, please?**


	10. Chapter 10

**Just as a heads up; this chapter is a bit gory. It's mostly just the first and last three paragraphs, and it's brief, but...I figured I'd warn the squeamish in advance.**

_Blood. There was so much blood. Blood on him, blood on his sword, blood flowing like the beautiful water around them, causing a thousand nightmares to counteract the happy dreams around them...and blood staining their beautiful skin that was paling by the second. His hands were shaking violently and his breathing was haggard, more and more tears streaming down his bloody cheeks with each passing second. His knees gave out and he dropped into the shallow water beside them and the once pure blade stained with their blood. His sword._

_There were others around them, the others in the tournament that had just taken his best friends' lives, but at that moment, all he saw was the bloody corpses lying before him. He was a murderer-he'd taken their lives, accidental as it was-and he deserved nothing but to share in their fate. He eyed the bloody sword on his right, taking it into his shaking hand and poising it over his heart. He heard the others scream in horror, his princely friend even rushing over to stop him, but they were all too late. He needed to die to repent. In his mind, it was the only way._

_"I'm sorry, Link," he muttered, thrusting the sword through his thick armor, piercing his heart as he'd accidentally pierced the young child's heart. He felt his life steadily ebbing from his body as he fell to the ground, his blood adding to the thousands of nightmares that would, that night, afflict everyone the blood poisoned..._

Pit screamed in agony, forcing himself awake with a start and bolting upright. He quickly removed the blanket covering him up to his neck without stopping to ponder where it had come from, looking down at himself while trembling hands inspected his chest, relieved to find he was still garbed in his black muscle shirt and shorts, no armor or fatal wound to be found. Pit sighed in relief, though the knowledge that the dream was simply a dream did nothing to stop his shaking. It didn't help that suddenly, a little too loud for comfort, he heard beside him,

"Are you...okay?" Pit jumped, swiveling around to find Luigi sitting on a chair beside a broken window. The younger Mario Brother forced a small smile, "You were asleep when we got back from the castle. I thought you could use the rest, so I brought you up to the Master Bedroom, but...from the way you just screamed, maybe that was a bad call."

Pit glanced down at the blanket folded over his feet, muttering, "I'm sorry...I was having a bad dream."

"About Link?"

The angel thought about what he said just before he killed himself in the dream, then the two corpses of his victims. They were blond, dressed in green, with pointed ears...Then he thought about the Holy Arrow in his quiver and what it was for. Pit felt bile rise in his throat and quickly forced it down, but this did nothing to stop the tears that started flowing down his cheeks. Luigi quickly rose from his seat to comfort Pit, but Pit waved him off, lifting one hand to quickly wipe over his face. "I'm okay...It was just a dream. It wasn't real."

Luigi stared at the young captain for a moment before slowly sitting back down, taking a moment to look out the window before turning back to Pit, who was still shaking like a leaf. "You realize that when we go wherever that portal happens to take us, we'll have to fight Link, maybe even kill him. Are you sure you're up for that?"

"We won't kill him," Pit said thickly.

"Denying it won't make this any easier. You were there when we fought Nana; the only way to force that thing out of its host's body is to-"

"We won't kill Link!" Pit yelled, his voice cracking noticeably. Luigi opened his mouth to answer, but, thinking better of it, closed it again.

Instead, he got to his feet and walked to the door, calling back, "Everyone's waiting in the Courtyard. Take your time getting ready," before he left.

Pit listened as closely as his average ears would allow him until he could no longer hear any footfalls and buried his face in his hands, fighting back more tears and a massive headache. That dream couldn't possibly have come at a worse time; Pit was under enough stress as it was knowing that he'd been given orders to kill his best friend. Dreaming that he killed his best friend as well as whom he assumed was Toon Link only added to his stress...

"The sooner we save Link, the better..." Pit muttered, slowly rising from the bed and stretching out his wings before grabbing the quiver stocked with the lone blessed arrow and the ancient bow before heading out the door and down the hall. He made his way back to the first floor and the hallway leading to the Courtyard, pausing just in front of the door to gather his courage and do his best to hide how worn down he already was by the task ahead before walking out to greet the darkness of the night. Just getting fresh air, however, was enough to lift Pit's headache, and that did wonders for his spirits as he met up with his fellow Smashers for the first time in twenty-four hours.

However, be that as it may, the others could still see the strain put on Pit by this ordeal. It was all over him; his once broad shoulders and wings drooped miserably, the fire in his bright blue eyes had been put out, and small but noticeable bags were under his eyes... It took all of the effort the Smashers had not to shiver as they met Pit's cold eyes with a slight nod as the de facto leader made his way toward the portal before turning to look everyone over, realizing they looked almost as bad as he did. He paused when he saw Toon Link, realizing almost immediately that the wound on his neck was properly bandaged, his tunic was now stitched up so it closely resembled Link's, and, most importantly, he was standing on his own, albeit shakily. He most likely still stood little chance of making it through one fight on his own or making a quick escape should fleeing become their only option to survive, but just seeing the shock had worn off this much in such little time was enough to put a small smile on Pit's face, which, in turn, caused the others to relax a little. Pit almost regretted what he was about to tell them about their enemy as he took a slow, deep breath before beginning...

"After you all left yesterday, my...my Goddess appeared and told me about our enemy. The monster that took over Link's body is named Diabolus Angelus, just as Ganondorf said. And, as much as I hate to admit it, the only way to eradicate her from a host body is to stab it through the heart. Lady Palutena...equipped me...to..." Pit swallowed, his legs threatening to give out as he forced out, "fight...her..."

"Y-You mean...stab Link through the heart and...kill him?" Zelda whispered. Pit was only able to give her a weak nod, making both of them feel sick to their stomachs.

"We don't have much of a choice. Either we force Diabolus Angelus out with at least a small window of opportunity left to save Link, or Diabolus Angelus weakens what's left of Link's soul and completely takes over. Lady Palutena said she would send us help to handle the rest, and that forcing Diabolus Angelus out of Link is the only way to help him. She...didn't tell me anything else." Nothing about the aid, the world they were about to enter, why she said Pit would be hurt when he met their aid... Pit looked around at the gathered Smashers, not at all surprised by the silent tension in the air. He'd been just as shocked as they were when he first heard all of this from Palutena. "Unfortunately, we have no way of knowing what is waiting for us on the other side of this portal...So, I'll ask now," Pit looked everyone in the eyes before calling, "if anyone wishes to stay behind, now's your chance to say so. No one will blame you for your decision."

The Smashers stared at each other tentatively, taking Pit's offer into serious consideration. All of them knew firsthand what Diabolus Angelus was capable of in Link's body; who knew how much more powerful she would be on her own turf. However, they all reached the same decision, as Falco was so bold as to point out, "What, and leave you to fight that thing on your own? Not a chance! If you go, we all go." Everyone nodded their approval, causing a small smile to grace Pit's lips. He was glad he didn't have to face the ordeal ahead of him alone; he didn't think he could handle it alone.

"Thank you. We should get going, then. The sooner we get this out of the way, the better." Another group nod of approval. Pit turned to face the portal, ready to go and save his best friend. He paused as he saw something glitter in the distance, slowly turning back and squinting to get a better look.

"Pit?" In a flash, Pit was rushing toward the source of the light, Marth and his tentative question forgotten. The angel froze as he came upon the source of the light, his already weak legs finally collapsing out from under him as he realized what it was: Link's Master Sword, having laid forgotten ever since Diabolus Angelus had attempted to wield it only for it to reject her, and the Hylian Shield thrown aside by Link in his hurry to reach Toon Link.

It seemed the Master Sword was resonating with the portal just as Toon Link's Triforce piece was. In fact, it almost appeared the Master Sword was pulsating just like... a heartbeat. Pit reverently took the blade into both hands, amazed at how truly light it was, as well as the strange warmth radiating from it. Maybe this... was some sort of sign that Link was okay. Maybe the sword was keeping track of his remaining life force...

"Will you use it?" Ike called out, causing the angel to jump as the mercenary crouched down beside him.

"It's better than only having arrows," Pit slowly replied, reaching out for the shield. He lifted it so that it was standing on its bottom edge, amazed to discover that the shield was not nearly as heavy as it looked, either; however, for some reason, Link always looked weighed down when he moved. It was...strange.

Again, Ike surprised Pit, moving up behind him and lifting the shield to strap it to the angel's back in place of the Poltergust 5000. "The heft of a weapon is not always dependent on physical heaviness. Each kill you make, the burden of the responsibilities you take upon wielding the weapon, these determine the weight you must carry into battle. Remember, you are merely borrowing these weapons. The first time Link wielded these weapons, he knew they would be his responsibility for the rest of his life, along with every kill he would make with them. Each time Link hefted these weapons, each time Link was forced to fight with these weapons; imagine the weight these weapons must have put on him everytime he went into battle." Ike finished his short soliloquy the same time he finished fixing the belt into place, prying the Master Sword from Pit's hands and putting it away in its worn down sheath. He then helped the bewildered teen onto his feet, not giving him time to ask how Ike had known what he was thinking as he patted his shoulder and said calmly, "Whenever you're ready, we're ready."

"I'm never going to be ready..." Pit muttered, shifting his weight slightly as he glanced, once again, at the dark portal, "but fighting Diabolus Angelus is my responsibility. So...I'm as ready as I can be." And Pit suddenly, without any trace of his previous hesitation, ran into the portal and out of sight.

It wasn't long before the others followed, leaving no one to realize that, as soon as Pit had stepped through the portal, it had slowly begun to shrink until nothing was left.

Now, they were trapped, in another world, with no way of escape.

_Th-This is all just a dream. Y-Yeah...I must still be dreaming. I'll wake up...and there'll be Link, and he'll just smile and say something like "Are you okay? You fell off of Ike's horse when we were on our way to Faron Woods. While you were unconscious, we found out those Rabbids were just minor enemies from another kingdom; nothing to worry about." Then he'll get into another fight with Marth, and then maybe I can convince him to go see a doctor. Yeah, that's...That's exactly what'll..._

"No, it won't..." Pit muttered, quickly dashing his hopes that he was having a nightmare before they could really take shape. He glanced back at the others, who all seemed to have gone through the exact same thing. It didn't surprise him, really; not with the state of the horrible place they had just entered.

The best way to describe the awful place they had entered, in Pit's opinion, was Subspace...twisted through a terrible nightmare. The sky, like that of Subspace, was pitch black with the occasional burst of lightning streaking through the clouds, and the ground seemed to be made of black and purple stone, but that was where the similarities ended. While the Smashers had known that Subspace was really the World of Trophies, there wasn't anything there to prove the connection to that peaceful world; no flora, no landmarks, nothing. While there was no proof that this new world was the World of Trophies, there were signs of dead plants and animal remains everywhere, and in the distance was one definite feature in this haunted place; a large, dark, foreboding structure that vaguely resembled the Mayan Pyramid of the Sun far in the distance.

"Hmm...I wonder where Ganondorf and D.A. could possibly be?" Mario whispered. It didn't raise anyone's spirits, but it was enough to relieve some of the tension hanging in the air.

Zelda raised the DS and tapped the top screen to scan the area near the evil pyramid, causing a map to appear on the bottom screen and the supposed name of their location, "Evil Realm..." The map itself was vague; there was only the pyramid at the center of everything, and an area full of stones about a mile north. Otherwise...it was completely empty. Zelda said as much, and almost instantly a heated debate began over what the stones could possibly be. Most agreed it was probably some sort of trap, but another look at the map revealed that the quickest way to reach the pyramid was to cut through the field of stones, and it was decided, with Pit leading the others, that going the quickest way would be the best way.

Anything to save Link before his soul was completely destroyed.

Terrified that even the slightest noise could alert a monster to the presence of strangers in its land, the Smashers moved as carefully as they possibly could on their way to the field of stones, maintaining silence the entire time. Of course, by the time they were almost there, they almost wished a monster would come out to fight them; anything to prove they weren't alone in that eerie place. The younger Smashers, Toon Link in particular, clung to Peach for protection as they proceeded toward the field, each twig someone's foot accidentally snapped and any slight movement they imagined they saw in the surrounding area making them jump. So much horrible silence... Until...

"This is where it begins," Zelda whispered, making everyone jump at the sudden break in a half hour's worth of silence. There was a brief moment where everyone looked around frantically, ready for the fight they were certain was soon to come...

...But look as they might, the Smashers saw nothing but more empty space all around them. A few brave souls-namely Fox and Falco-went ahead and looked around several feet ahead, but there was still nothing to be found. All eyes fell on the princess of Hyrule.

"Zel, are you sure you read that thing correctly?" Peach asked.

"I-I'm sure I did...Maybe it's busted, but...we're closer to the temple now, so..."

"Yeah, th-that's all that counts, right? So the map was wrong. Who cares?" Mario interjected.

"Still, something seems off..." Pit took a few steps ahead himself, taking a quick look around, but finding nothing, no matter how hard he looked. Something was wrong; Pit could sense it. He turned to Zelda, staring at the DS as if that would fix the problem, beginning to walk toward her, "Princess, could I see tha-" And then, without warning, Pit found himself tumbling down... down... further down... until he finally landed, with a sickening crack from his left ankle, into a small hole, barely big enough to hold him as he laid on the damp ground, trying desperately to regain his breath. Stars exploded behind his closed eyelids as he fought to breathe, barely hearing above him:

"PIT!"

"Oh my- Pit, are you okay?"

"Pit, can you hear us? Say something!"

Pit could only manage to let out a small, weak moan, but it was enough to let the others know that he was at the very least still alive. The injured angel forced himself into a sitting position, slowly cracking open his eyes to get a good look at his surroundings. Oddly enough, he had an open view of the sky above him, letting in just enough light that he could see that the hole he was in was hardly spectacular; just a rectangular space dug out of the crystal ground, which, as it turned out, covered garden-variety dirt for only an inch. Using Link's bow like a cane to help him to his feet, Pit was able to stand up, which revealed to him that the hole was only about a foot deeper than he was tall...and thus revealed to him exactly what he had managed to fall into.

Panic quickly took hold as Pit was also forced to realize that there wasn't nearly enough space for his wings to expand enough for flight, and so, lifting his free hand as high as he possibly could, he jumped up and down, frantically screaming, "Guys! Guys, get me out of here! Hurry!" Pit soon recognized one of Satoshi's gloved hands blindly dangling in the hole and grabbed on for dear life as his friend slowly hoisted him halfway up before Ike was able to grab Pit's other hand and finish prying him out. Concern quickly flew to Pit's bruised and slightly twisted ankle, but the angel had far worse on his mind than some slight wound.

Zelda was at his side in an instant, glancing at the hidden hole Ike was carefully testing by ducking his head inside it to inspect it, causing his head to disappear momentarily before he pulled it back up. She didn't come back to herself until she felt Satoshi nudge her arm to get her to pull out her ocarina and play "The Song of Storms" so they could heal Pit, but when she finished the song, she seemed to embody all the anger in the world as she pulled her hands close together and muttered, "Ganondorf...That bastard, using magic to hide the truth..." Sparks flew between the Hylian princess's hands before a halo of light encircled her waist and gradually expanded over the field, coming first to the spot where Pit had fallen...and in seconds this spot, as well as literally dozens of other spots, revealed its true nature to the Smashers, and they finally realized where they now found themselves.

The "stones" on the DS map were actually grave markers, a confirmation of Pit's theory. In fact, not only were they in a graveyard but it was a graveyard that seemed to have been set up for the Smashers; the particular grave Pit had fallen into had been made for Fox, as the marker had his name, insignia, and even a carving of his face engraved on its surface. Looking around, the Smashers managed to find every one of them had a grave set up for them, hole and all, but what really sent chills down the Smashers' spines were the other graves.

These graves had been reserved for the Smashers of the Subspace Emissary that either hadn't been seen at all...or had disappeared before the group's arrival to the Evil Realm: Bowser, King Dedede, Wolf, Wario, Donkey Kong, Diddy Kong, R.O.B. Mr. Game & Watch, Captain Falcon, Samus, Sonic, Snake, Olimar, and Yoshi. Also among these graves were two more graves- one for Popo and one for Shigeru.

And these graves were covered over with fresh dirt.

It was a devastating blow to everyone, to say the least, but to Nana and Satoshi, who'd been desperately hoping to find that their missing loved ones had only been kidnapped rather than killed, it was as if their morale had completely shattered with one glance at the grave markers. Each collapsed in front of the final resting place of their dearest comrades, words escaping them as they could only gape, pale faced and trembling, at the carvings of their friends' faces.

Pit's heart sank as he saw tears fill Nana's eyes. He'd pushed them to come this way, knowing perfectly well that they were probably walking right into a trap. He knew that they were prepared if someone had tried to start a fight with them, and he figured that would be more than enough to get them through any trap that could be set. He'd never counted on their enemies sinking so low as to use psychological warfare to weaken morale and crush their will to fight. After all, there was no way to prove this set-up was fake. For all they knew, their friends really were dead...

Pit sighed, silently watching as Peach tried to console the grieving Smashers. She gently kneeled down beside Satoshi, who had his head bowed low, seeming to stare at the dirt as if he were trying to see through it and see if Shigeru was honestly in there. Peach tentatively placed a hand on Satoshi's upper back, making the Pokemon Trainer flinch, but not breaking him from his staring contest.

"Satoshi..."

"Oh my! Visitors! We have visitors! Isn't this unusual! We NEVER have visitors!"

Satoshi's head snapped up, as did everyone else's, turning to see a figure standing at the far end of the field, seemingly staring right at them. Judging by the voice, the figure was male, but physically all the Smashers could see was a long, dark purple robe and a dirty shovel grasped in the sleeves of the robe. It was one of Ganondorf's and Diabolus Angelus's minions, to be sure, but it didn't seem to hold any hostile intent. In fact, it quickly went back to crossing the field, dragging something along behind it and whistling the "Super Smash Bros. Brawl" theme as it went. If the situation was different, the Smashers probably would have thought this was quirky, maybe even charming. However, this...thing...was evil, and, by the looks of things, the grave keeper in this disturbing graveyard. However, as long as it didn't seem interested in fighting...Pit knew what he had to do.

Before anyone could stop him, the angel dashed over to the robed man, finding that he was setting up what seemed to be a new grave. The marker was bigger than any the Smashers had, and, unlike the others, there was no indication of who the grave would belong to, and Pit now saw that what the robed man had been dragging behind him was a wooden coffin, the future occupant of the grave, no doubt. Pit watched the robed man work, noticing that under his breath he was now singing, "Let's dig! Dig quick! Dig Deep! Diggity dig!"

"Um...Excuse me..."

The robed man paused, head quickly swiveling around to look at Pit, giving the angel a disturbing look into its face. There was nothing to see; just darkness. "Yes? Oh! I recognize you! I got a grave for you all set up! Pit, right? Have you come to join the ranks of the dead? It is quite nice being dead, you know! No pain, no loneliness, no despair! Perfection! Of course, getting that way is the hard part!" The robed man pointed past Pit to Shigeru's grave, "See that one there? M'Lady drained his life force and brought him back here! He was locked up for a while after he refused to work for M'Lord! Then M'Lady tortured him and he died of blood loss! So sad! Hee hee!" Pit glanced back at Satoshi, praying he was out of earshot. He saw the Pokemon Trainer clench and unclench his hands into fists. "The others here suffered, too! M'Lady was kind, though! She killed them all so they wouldn't last long! Such a kind woman!" Pit felt himself recoil from disgust. "But," the robed man stopped digging, dropping the shovel and lifting his head toward the sky, arms outstretched, "M'Poor Lady! Oh, poor, poor Lady! First, she had to take a man's body to survive- M'Lady is truly, very lovely! She created copies of her true form to protect the fortress! So, so lovely! But to be stuck in that hideous body! Disgusting!"

Now it was Pit's turn to try to hold down his anger. She was the disgusting one, not Link. "How is...your 'Lady' poor?"

"Oh, M'Poor Lady! Such a disgusting, weak, ugly body! Good riddance!" The robed man turned his head and spat in the hole he'd made so far, and Pit got a terrible feeling in the pit of his stomach.

"What happened to her body...?"

"Right here! Ugly thing! Disgusting! Glad it's gone! Now M'Lady can take a proper, beautiful body!" The robed man pointed to the coffin, then, dropping the conversation completely, picked his shovel back up and resumed his digging, singing all the while.

Pit, meanwhile, walked slowly to the coffin, the sound of his heartbeat hammering away in his ears. His entire body was trembling as he grasped the lid, surprised to find it wasn't nailed down as he slowly pulled it open.

The first thing to hit Pit was the terrible smell. His nostrils burned as what seemed to be a mixture of iron and decaying flesh scents filled his nose, and the angel instinctively backed away, turning his head as he finished opening the coffin. Pit turned to see what could possibly be creating such an awful smell...

...and in seconds the angel was on his knees, unable to resist his need to vomit, a sharp, stabbing pain striking his stomach and his heart. He trembled as his stomach emptied itself on the ground beside the coffin, unable to get the image of Link's corpse out of his head. Widened, frightened blue eyes glazed over, mouth open in agony, surrounded by blue lips, bloody splatters all over his tunic, chest cut open...

Despite everything Pit knew about biology told him that even if Link had been immediately killed after entering the Evil Realm, he couldn't possibly have decayed so quickly, his mind just said over and over again, _It's Link...It's Link...It's Link..._ while the angel's senses went numb. Link, his best friend, dead. It wasn't possible. It was his nightmare, come true. He hadn't saved Link in time...Link was dead...He'd let Link die.

"Yes, Pit. Link died because of you. You've killed him...again. Once a murderer, always a murderer. And just like before, you know what you have to do to repent..." The robed man whispered. Pit glanced to his right, seeing the bloody sword from his nightmare. Tears came to the angel's eyes as he saw it, and without thinking he picked it up, poising it over his heart. "Now, what do you say?"

"I'm sorry, Link," Pit muttered automatically.

"Good boy."

Pit thrust the sword through his heart, barely making a sound despite the evil laughter ringing above him as he fell to the ground, feeling his life steadily ebb away as his eyelids grew heavy and his breathing became more labored. The tears fell as Pit caught sight of the coffin containing his best friend, his final sight before everything went black.

To Be Continued

**Super Smash Bros.? Own? Me? Never!**

**By the way, the tune the robed man was singing...I don't know if it's in the actual game, but the Minish sing that song when they're digging in **_**The Legend of Zelda:the Minish Cap**_** manga, and I thought it would be fitting for a grave digger.**

**Uh...Hello, again. Sorry for...uh...killing off Pit after five months without a new chapter. Ya see, five months ago I had a major English paper to start that took up two months of my life to complete...and right after that I...(blush)...I found my first love, and he got all my free time...BUT he broke up with me yesterday because he started working seven days a week and he felt he wasn't being fair to me. He was trying to be kind about it, but I totally cried on and off all of yesterday and today. I figured I'd cheer myself up by watching a vid on Deviant Art, watching the video for **_**I Pray For You**_** (so ironic), and writing fan fiction. Amazingly enough, this totally helped. So, my break up is actually positive for you. However...**

**...**_**what**_** was up with that **_**ending**_**? Why did Pit act out his nightmare? Better yet, why didn't the others stop him? Why did that OC just pop in out of nowhere and just who is he? So many unanswered questions. What I will say is...there's a huge battle next chappie...and the "aid" Palutena sends to Pit arrives. Maybe that gave quite a bit away, but...**

**Eh, whatever. Now onto the review replies:**

**Captain Black Knight: First and foremost I'M SO SORRY FOR MAKING LINK POSSESSED...And then there's the end of this chapter...Oh, Goddesses, please don't kill me! I'm sorry the story got so dark so suddenly, especially for Link and Pit. I love Link McCutie, too, but I'm such a sadistic person, and I always target the cute ones. And don't worry about Link and/or Ganondorf...The "aid" from Palutena can handle that fine on its own. I'd never wanna put a reviewer's life in danger, especially my first ever dedicated reviewer. ^_^ Now my ex-boyfriend, sweet guy as he is, there's another story (You aren't him, right? That would be awkward). But anywho...Yes, "The Talk." I believe every story should have "The Talk" in it somewhere, fan fic or not! I actually made up Chapter 9 about two years ago because I always wondered how Link would take giving "The Talk" to a kid. It was a random filler chapter originally, but when I came up with the rest of the story it got a lot deeper. Barring you angrily charging to my house with a torch for killing off Link and Pit, I hope to hear more from you soon!**

**Sapphire Drakon: Thank you! It's so nice hearing that my updates make others excited! Whenever I think of that happening, I think of my favorite authors with over 300 reviews for only 20 chapters, so it means a lot to me that you said that! I just hope I met your expectations XD**

**LinkWarriorInGreen: (still loving the name and loving the avatar) Can Pit still save Link if Link is dead and Pit killed himself?**

Pit: It's your story, stupid Flock. You should know.

Me:** Shut up, Pit! It's called developing suspense! Now go back to being dead!**

Pit: I hate you, Flock. (leaves)

**Okay, and with that bout of randomness out of the way...I hope this chapter met your expectations. Sure it was unnecessarily gory because I'm in a bad mood (see rant/tardy excuse right after TBC note for more details), and the end there came out differently than I planned, but I hope I can see a review from you soon!**

**So, that's it for Chapter 10. Hopefully Chapter 11 comes through faster...I can't wait to see Pit's face when he meets the "aid." Hope to see you then. Hopefully my mood won't make the story so suddenly dark this time!**


	11. Chapter 11

**Okay, this time there is **_**definitely**_** some major gore at the end of the chapter. Reader discretion is advised. Also, I'm sorry, but the major fight isn't until the **_**next**_** chapter. My sincerest apologies! Now, on with Chapter 11!**

Pit had never imagined that death would be like this.

The only time he felt any pain was when the sword first went through his heart. After that, all he felt was a surge of warmth as he fell, almost gently, to the ground.

Next to go was his sight. At first he blamed his tears for his blurred vision, but as he looked on at the wooden coffin containing Link's corpse, he realized that his perception of the world around him was growing gradually darker and darker until he was finally blanketed by eternal night.

Finally, mercifully, his hearing faded out until that horrible, high-pitched laughter emanating from the robed man was only a distant memory. His breathing, heart rate, and thought process slowed significantly, until they, too, were gone, leaving only the soul to testify that the Captain of Palutena's Army wasn't entirely dead yet, though it was barely contained in the dark astral plane that existed between life and death. There Pit felt no pain, no sorrow, no lingering regret. The others were a distant, darkened memory, as was his mission to save Link and stop Ganondorf from taking over the world. It didn't matter anymore that his soul would undergo terrible punishment for the act of committing suicide, that he could never be reborn and that he could, in fact, be forced into the Underworld that was waiting to attack for what he did to its residents many years ago. Nothing mattered anymore; there was only Pit wrapped in darkness, waiting in blissful ignorance for his soul to be pulled back to Angel Land where he would be put to trial before his wings would be stripped off and he would be cast into the Underworld.

A few strange, fleeting images went through his head that he no longer understood, fragments of what memories were ingrained permanently upon his mind. With his sightless eyes Pit took in the memories with little thought, seeing the events of his life in reverse order: First he saw himself holding a bow and arrow shakily in his arms, tears streaming down his cheeks as he stood face-to-face with a young man with blond hair, a green tunic, and blood red eyes. The blond man ran a hand through Pit's hair, whispering softly, "Which makes me wonder if it would be his soul suffering in an eternal purgatory if I committed some terrible crime against the Goddesses instead of mine this time. A crime like, say, killing an angel in service to the Goddess of Light?" The hand tightened in Pit's hair and began to tug...

...And suddenly Pit was flying through the air, looking down at a gorgeous expanse of forest. He quickly took out a map with two deep red "X"s placed upon its surface, which seemed to trigger a realization that he was near one of the spots as he glided down closer to the ground. His eyes scanned a large clearing before he suddenly saw someone-the same blond man from the other vision, only now he was in a white shirt and tan capris-heading up a ladder into a tree house. Pit folded his wings in for a safe landing, just to inquire if this man knew where he could find his friend. However...Pit suddenly found himself plummeting out of the sky, headed straight for the man! Pit barely managed to cry out, "Look out below!" before he landed, causing the man to glance up and reveal that his eyes were now a gentle shade of deep blue instead of a disturbing red. Pit felt a sandal connect with the man's face before another connected with...

...His back. Goddesses, his back. Of all the places where he had to be hit, it just had to be in his back. Drifting in and out of consciousness, Pit glanced back, realizing that his wings had been broken and were lying in a bloody heap against the ground, then ahead of him, seeing a man who was entirely blue floating in the air in the distance, and running toward him...a short man in blue overalls and a red cap. He stopped next to Pit, glancing at him, then a little further to the right before muttering, "My turn, eh?" He then looked behind him, yelling, "King Dedede! Get Pit and Link back to the Falcon Flyer with Satoshi! I'll deal with Tabuu!" Then red cap man ran toward the blue guy, and Pit felt the ground vibrate beneath him as he looked up and saw...a giant blue penguin in a red robe. The penguin lifted him gently to inspect him, shaking his head in pity before he blew a whistle and several small red and tan creatures with large, black eyes ran over with two stretchers. Pit was placed gingerly in one...and glancing over, he saw...the same blond man from before, back in his green tunic but still with blue eyes being placed into the other. He looked horrible; deep gashes all over his body, blood everywhere...Pit could see that he was struggling to keep his eyes open as the strange creatures carried them both away. Their eyes met for a brief moment, and despite the pain he must have been in, the blond man smiled and whispered softly...

..."Tell me what you did with Zelda!" Pit gasped, barely managing to lift his weapon in time as the blond man swung his sword, aiming for Pit's stomach. Their weapons clashed, and Pit finally got his first good luck at the blond man. He shivered as he saw those same gentle blue eyes from the previous two visions turned as cold as ice, glaring at him as though he was the most despicable creature in the world. The glare he received was dark enough that Pit couldn't find his voice to explain what had happened, but the longer he looked into the blond man's eyes, the more familiar he seemed. In fact, he would almost swear that he had seen that same icy glare before...

...Only then it wasn't directed at him. Pain worse than what he'd felt two visions prior to this one seared Pit's entire body as he was left lying, prone and helpless, in a pool of his own blood. Like before, he couldn't recall what had happened to put him in this position, but if he had to place a guess, he would assume it was probably those five disturbingly hollow creatures made of wires and organs standing around him in mob formation. They were strangely placid at the moment, though Pit could only guess why, given they seemed to have beaten him senseless moments before. He glanced to his right, seeing an eerily familiar sword with a golden hilt covered in blood about an arm's length away, although none of the other visions had involved this particular sword. He made the slightest move to reach for it, seeing a noticeable shift in the wiry creatures.

_'Ah...They won't fight me unless I'm ready for combat. How considerate of them...' _Pit thought sarcastically, retracting his movement and sighing heavily when he realized the creatures were not doing the same. They were ready to battle, whether he was or not. Well, this was lovely...

Unexpectedly-to say the least- one of the strange creatures was smacked in the head with what seemed to be a rock, making the entire pack as well as Pit turn to his left to see-who else?-the green wearing, blond, blue-eyed man who linked every vision together crouched at Pit's side, holding another rock in his right hand and the sword he'd almost killed Pit with in the last vision in his left. He cleared his throat, not taking his eyes off of the creatures as he said quietly, "Shh...Easy. Mario should be finishing up any second now. Don't make any sudden moves, okay?"

Pit slowly nodded his head, glancing around at each creature before setting his sights on his protector. Something about him seemed...different than in the other visions. Maybe it was just the odd angle and the almost nonexistent lighting playing tricks upon his eyes, but he was sure there was some sort of major physical and temperamental change between the man from this vision and the man from the last. Granted, there was a definite temperamental change-the man from the last vision had been trying to kill him, after all-but even the man who'd been comforting him in one of the other visions didn't strike him as being quite like the current one...

Without warning, everything but Pit and his protector shifted from a series of platforms floating in a dark sky to a large, steel enforced room with only a simple black door off to the left. Realizing the danger had passed, the blond man dropped the rock and sheathed his sword, turning to fully face Pit and give him his first good look at his face. It wasn't the angle or the light playing tricks on Pit's eyes; the man really did look very different-his eyes were a little larger and a darker blue, his tunic was a darker green and without any armor or stitches, his hair was a darker shade of blond that almost resembled orange sherbert and also parted down the middle, and his ears were noticeably longer as they stuck out from the sides of his head. Pit was so dumbstruck by how much the man had changed from the last vision that he barely noticed that the man was interrogating him as he took in the damage to Pit's body.

"Geez, the Wire Frames beat you down pretty badly, didn't they? What were you thinking, taking on Cruel Melee your first week here?"

"...I don't know," Pit answered honestly, turning his head away.

"What do you know, then?" When the blond didn't receive an answer, he gently lifted Pit's head into an upright position, finding a noticeable contusion that could signal a concussion. "Okay, let's start with the basics. What's your name?"

Pit moaned, trying vainly to search his missing memory for a name. Amazingly enough, he found one: "Roy."

"Where are we now?"

Again, Pit was amazed to find a name,"The Training Room at the Super Smash Brothers Melee tournament."

"What's my name?"

Pit searched again, putting all his effort into locating the name of the figure haunting his memories. Only one name came up that he thought was right: "Pit...right?"

Much to his intense disappointment, the blond man frowned, "As far as this situation goes, you got two out of three right, but in reality, you're completely wrong. I'd hoped you had enough cognition left to realize that, but...I arrived later than expected..."

"What?"

The blond lifted Pit into a sitting position, tilting the confused boy's head down to look at his body. "In one of your last few memories, you got a good look at yourself. Is this what you remember seeing?" Pit scanned himself up and down, finding loose, white pants, blue and white boots, blue gauntlets, a blue tunic, blue and gold armor, and a cape that was blue on the outside and red on the inside. Gone were the black shorts, brown sandals, brown gauntlets, white toga, golden bands across his arms and right leg, and the white wings that had been broken two visions previous. Seeing that Pit had realized what he was talking about, the blond continued, "You've lost most of your memories, but the strongest ones related to what you were doing before you died remained, playing out for you in reverse order. When you ran out of memories of this life, you jumped back to the first time we met in your past life. If you'd reached the end of those memories, you would have really died."

Pit stopped his inspection, turning his large blue eyes on the blond. Died? Strongest memories? Past life? Pit wanted to voice his thoughts, but all that came out was, "But...all of my memories were about..."

"Me; though, you don't remember who I am."

"If I'm dead, then how is it possible for me to have memories?"

"Only your body is dead. Your brain is still alive, tethering your soul to your body, but it's slowing down, so not all of your memories are as clear as they should be. When your memories return, you'll probably forget all about this encounter with me. This isn't one of your own memories, and I don't belong here."

"Fine with me. Like you said, I don't even know who you are...Or who I am, apparently."

"You will soon," the blond smiled, using one hand to pull the collar of his tunic away while the other reached down inside and returned with a strange blue flute-an ocarina. "You're lucky; although the injury to your body is real, you didn't actually commit suicide. Your imagined desire to caused you to injure your soul, and the injury manifested itself physically on your body. I couldn't heal a bodily injury, but healing souls is sort of a specialty of mine."

"So...You're going to heal my soul using a flute?"

"The Ocarina of Time isn't a normal instrument, nor is the melody that heals troubled spirits a normal song," the blond raised the ocarina to his lips, closing his eyes as he muttered softly, "Let the '_Song of Healing_' cleanse your soul and bring peace and clarity to your mind, Pit."

_'Wait a...Did he just call me...Pit?'_

Before Pit could take the time to ponder any of what the blond had said, he found all of his attention diverted to the blond as he raised the ocarina to his lips, gently playing a slow, sad, lovely piece that seemed to seep through Pit's skin and bury itself deep within his heart. He watched, entranced, as the blond's fingers glided skillfully over the holes of the ocarina, not once having to open his eyes to see what he was doing. His concentration rested solely on the moving piece that would, supposedly, heal Pit's soul and restore his memories.

Sure enough, as the song played out, Pit's mind slowly filled in the missing pieces of his memory, and he began to remember what had happened. He was Pit, Captain of Palutena's Army. He'd entered a realm infested with evil in the hopes of saving his best friend, but instead he'd fallen victim to a trap set by some insane grave digger...

...However, as memories of his life returned, the few memories he had collected from speaking with the blond vanished, just as he had said. Pit suddenly found himself lying prone and helpless in an unfamiliar room, a strange tingle running over his skin as his mysterious wounds, much to his surprise, seemed to heal themselves. It was while looking down at these wounds when he finally had the strength to sit up that he realized that he was dressed in strange armor not so different from Marth's rather than what was left of his clothes since donating his toga to Toon Link, and...there was someone else in the room with him, playing what sounded-at least to Pit's musically trained ears-like either a piccolo or an ocarina. Pit turned to look at the obviously gifted musician...

...And his blood ran cold almost instantly at the sight of the man he easily recognized to be the very man he was risking everything to save. Some of his features seemed a little off, but there was no mistaking it was him.

"Link..." At the sound of his own name, Link stopped playing, slowly opening his eyes and turning them to the bewildered angel. Pit couldn't even begin to describe the relief that washed over him when he realized for the first time that Link's eyes were blue instead of red. It was Link. In spite of everything that had happened over the last twenty-four hours, Link was somehow with him and back to normal. Pit knew this situation probably wasn't real, but that didn't stop him from wanting to jump to his feet and glomp the long eared blond to the ground.

A large smile spread over Pit's face as he began to stand, but a sharp, stabbing pain in his chest knocked him back down. Pit put a hand to his chest and discovered he was still wounded from his attempted suicide; though the injury was mostly healed, it was still bleeding profusely, as the blood smeared across Pit's hand and clothes more than proved.

"I'm sorry," Link muttered, staring down at the ocarina. "I couldn't completely heal you. There's something troubling you besides the idea that you were too late to save me. You want to suffer for it, so your mind refused to let you heal... It was Palutena's orders to kill me in the final battle, wasn't it?" Link looked to Pit for confirmation, which the angel hesitantly gave with a weak nod. Much to the angel's surprise-and confusion-Link smiled and said, "Don't let it bother you. Palutena knows what she's doing. Actually, she expected something bad to happen to you as soon as you got here. She even warned you in advance."

Now Pit was really confused. What was Link talking about? More importantly, how did he know about Pit's conversation with Palutena?

Unfortunately for Pit, he never got a chance to ask; without warning, the room faded away, leaving the two heroes in a black void. While Pit looked around at their new surroundings, obviously alarmed, Link calmly said, "It won't be much longer before you return to the real world and have to face the Creature."

"The Creature?"

"That robed man who tricked you into killing yourself. He's actually a shape shifter with no face of his own."

"Yeah...I saw that when he looked at me."

"That's actually not true. He wasn't just the grave keeper you saw, although that is what he looks like when he isn't transformed. Most of that graveyard was really him. He's one of Ganondorf's most powerful minions, so it's safe to say he'll want to finish the job when he realizes you're still alive. If you were at full strength, it'd be hard to say which of you would win, but..."

"As long as I'm injured, he'll have the advantage, right?"

"Unfortunately, and even if you do somehow win, there'll be guards waiting to capture you and throw you in Ganondorf's prison with the rest of your friends."

"So I'll either die or be captured. No matter what, I won't win."

"At least if you're alive, you can still carry out your mission. Link isn't dead yet, but he's getting weaker. I'd say he has about four hours left before Diabolus Angelus has full control of his body. You're the only one who can save him. If you survive, you'll have a few hours to find a way to reach him and do what needs to be done. You're a tough kid, Pit. I'm sure you'll be able to do it."

Okay...Now Pit was definitely confused. Either Link had suddenly decided he wanted to refer to himself in the third person...or this wasn't really Link. Without thinking, the angel blurted out, "Who are you, really?"

It only served to confuse Pit more that Link simply smiled, his eyes revealing that there was more to the answer to Pit's question than the angel could ever imagine. "You'll see..." Before Pit could question Link's ambiguous answer, the green wearing hero lifted the ocarina for Pit to see and said, with the same calmness he'd consistently displayed since Pit had come back to his senses, "It's time. I'll play the '_Song of Healing_' to help bridge the gap between your spirit here and your body back in the Evil Realm. When you wake up, take off your shirt and use it to staunch the bleeding, then take a good look around you. As long as you can hear the song, you should be able to see through the Creature's illusion. Use that time to land your first blow before the Creature transforms. After that, it's up to fate whether you live or die." Link grabbed Pit's wrist, carefully pulling the angel to his feet to avoid agitating his wound. Pit couldn't help but notice that, if nothing else, Link was real in this imaginary world; as Pit's fingers wrapped around Link's wrist, he felt the hero's pulse throbbing in his veins.

It gave Pit hope that maybe this was the real Link.

Pit was suddenly aware that Link had let go of him and put the ocarina to his lips, their eyes briefly meeting before Link closed his eyes and once again played the '_Song of Healing_.' Again, Pit felt the song strike something deep within his heart as Link continued to play, only this time, rather than healing his wounds, the song conjured up a ring of bright, golden light around Pit that slowly encased his body. The angel could see, through the light, that Link was slowly fading into the darkness, his song becoming gradually softer as less of him became visible. Finally, just as Link completely disappeared, a bright flash of light appeared in his place, swallowing up the angel and blinding him until he was completely surrounded.

When he could see again, Pit realized that he was back in the Evil Realm, floating over his lifeless body and the Creature, who was still laughing maniacally as he stood over his victim. Pit flew down to his body, recoiling slightly when he saw just how much blood he had lost and was still losing. His real injury was much worse than it had appeared when he was with Link. He was in for the fight of his life...and he truly doubted he would live up to Link's expectations and actually win. All the same, Pit closed his eyes, letting himself be carried back to his body by the faintly echoing notes of the '_Song of Healing_.' Through his eyelids Pit could see another bright flash of light engulf him, and, just as he felt himself coming around, he heard, somewhere in the back of his mind, Link's voice, _"Oh, yeah. One more thing: When you fight the Creature, try to remember your fight with Link during the Subspace Emissary. You know better than anyone how effective his attacks were against yours."_ The light faded to black as one final, quiet whisper met Pit's ears, _"I'll see you soon...Roy."_

While Pit's senses had all left him slowly and separately when he died, they all came back all too quickly when he was revived. There was only a split second of peace before Pit was suddenly bombarded by all five of his senses at once; the laughter of the Creature, which was already shrill on its own, sounded like a Banshee's screams as it filled Pit's previously deaf ears; the sky above, which everyone had thought was dark before, shone as brightly as the sun in Pit's previously blind eyes, causing him to squeeze his eyes closed as soon as he could move his eyelids; the strong stench of blood and vomit filled Pit's nose, which brought his sense of taste back into being as bile burned at the back of his throat; but worse than all of the other senses combined was the return of Pit's sense of touch. The pain burning in his eyes, the throbbing of his eardrums, the dizziness of blood loss, and the bone-chilling coldness seeping through Pit's clothes struck the angel like lightning, but feeling these different pains was nothing compared to the feeling in his chest.

Pit wondered if Link's playing of the '_Song of Healing_' had really done anything for him in the real world; The wound was deep, and, while it had luckily missed the angel's heart, the sword had taken out plenty of the tissue surrounding it as it punctured his left lung. Oh, and speaking of the sword... It was still in there, and, imaginary or not, it burned like hell. And, adding to the pain the injury was already causing Pit, the wound was becoming infected. It had only been a few minutes in the real world since Pit's death, but this was enough time for bacteria to settle into the wound, causing his already painful injury to fester.

So, there the angel was lying, undetected by his enemy, in a motionless heap on the ground, in so much pain that he couldn't even find the strength to lift his head and see the truth Link had wanted him to look at, much less actually bandage his wound and attack the Creature. The only thing that kept the angel from letting himself die again was the soft hum of the 'Song of Healing' and the strange effect it still held over his heart- that warm feeling in his chest. It occurred to Pit that the feeling was most likely the song's mysterious powers trying to heal him, and that, just as Link had said, it was his own troubled thoughts keeping the song's powers from taking full effect. Not that the sword was really helping things.

Against his better judgement, Pit opened his eyes again, trying to ignore the painful brightness that struck him from every which way, and looked down at the sword protruding from his chest. He assumed it would be the sword that he'd seen briefly while he was talking to Link, the same sword he'd used to kill himself in his nightmare that same morning.

He assumed wrong.

Pit sucked in a deep breath as he stared, wide-eyed, at the Master Sword. He'd killed himself with his best friend's sword. Somehow, the Creature must have drawn it from Pit's back as he created the illusion that Link was lying in that coffin, then used his powers to make it appear to be the sword from Pit's nightmare. But Toon Link had said the Master Sword was a sacred blade that repelled evil, right? Then again, only someone who could balance all three pieces of the Triforce and was destined to become the Savior of Hyrule was supposed to be able to wield it, and if there was one thing Pit knew for sure about himself anymore, it was that he was definitely not the Savior of Hyrule.

While Pit stared at the sword, obviously perturbed by this horrifying sight, he didn't realize that the Creature had heard him suck in that breath and turned to see the angel, whom he was sure he'd taken care of, very much alive, though gravely injured. It wasn't until Pit felt a hard kick to his side that knocked him onto his back that he realized he'd been discovered, getting another disturbing look into the Creature's missing face as he bent over the angel. Pit was sure if he had a face, he'd look pissed.

"You..." the Creature spat, driving his foot down onto Pit's chest, dirt getting into the wound and agitating it worse. Pit grimaced in pain, "How the hell are you alive? I saw you kill yourself! Lots of blood everywhere! The smell of death! How the hell did you survive?" Pit wanted to come up with some witty remark, but before he could say anything, the Creature grabbed the hilt of the Master Sword, causing it to slide around in Pit's body just enough to cause some serious damage-and cause Pit to scream out in agony. "M'Lady would be very upset to discover that the only one capable of standing up to her had escaped! Very upset, indeed! It's nothing against you, little angel, but you must die so M'Lady will be pleased with me!" The Creature thrust the sword further into Pit's body until the blade itself was stuck in the ground and just the guard and hilt remained outside of Pit's body. The angel screamed again, blood trickling slowly from out of his mouth as more blood pooled on the ground around him. Somehow, Pit found enough strength to raise his hands and wrap them around the hilt, futiley trying to lift it out of his body and save himself. However, it was what little strength Pit still possessed against the full power of the Creature, and, needless to say, Pit was unable to move the sword.

_'"The h eft of a weapon is not always dependent on physical heaviness. Each kill you make, the burden of the responsibilities you take upon wielding the weapon, these determine the weight you must carry into battle. Remember, you are merely borrowing these weapons. The first time Link wielded these weapons, he knew they would be his responsibility for the rest of his life, along with every kill he would make with them. Each time Link hefted these weapons, each time Link was forced to fight with these weapons; imagine the weight these weapons must have put on him everytime he went into battle."'_ Suddenly, Ike's words made a lot more sense, although the weight of being pinned to the ground with the weapon didn't quite compare to the weight of responsibility. Pit couldn't help but smile as he felt the same surge of warmth that had engulfed him the first time he'd died. He'd lost...Link was going to die...his friends would either be enslaved or killed...but at least his suffering was ending again...

However, much to Pit's great displeasure, just as Pit surrendered to the darkness, he felt something grab him and keep him from losing consciousness:the '_Song of Healing_.' Continuing to echo in his head, the song prevented Pit from dying as it slowly healed his wounds and kept him alive like life support. The feeling was so painful it made Pit want to cry.

"Link...Are you still playing that dumb song? I lost...Give it up...Please...There was no battle...I didn't even make it to the part where I use my stupid, shitty shirt to bandage myself...Link...Please...Stop..." Pit cried out weakly, sobs wracking his weak frame as the song continued without even so much as a pause. "Link...Please...It hurts...so much..."

"Link? What craziness has possessed you? Link is not here!" The Creature said, almost laughing at the absurdity of Pit's pleas for help. "Link is possessed by M'Lady! Yep, yep! And pretty soon, Link will be no more forever...just like you!" The Creature laughed, but Pit was more focused on his words than his actions. Link was going to die? But Link had promised him that they'd see each other again...He was going to explain why he'd referred to himself as if he were a Link separate from the Link that Pit knew...He was going to explain why he'd called Pit...

_'"I'll see you soon...Roy."'_

And Pit sure as hell wasn't going to let either Link or himself die before he found out why Link had appeared to him looking exactly as he had in his nightmare.

Pit was brought back to himself when he heard the Creature shriek, letting go of the Master Sword and backing away in absolute terror. Not wasting a precious second on figuring out what had frightened the monster, Pit put all of his strength into pulling the Master Sword out of his body, somehow succeeding and thus bringing to light what had startled the Creature; the Master Sword was glowing just as it had when Link had used it to free Nana from Diabolus Angelus, as well as when Diabolus Angelus had tried to use it to kill Pit, only for it to reject her.

Its power to repel evil had returned, though Pit could only guess how.

Using the sword like a crutch, the angel slowly lifted himself to his feet, his stamina slowly improving thanks to the 'Song of Healing.' His blue, pain filled eyes lifted to look around as Link had instructed, and he realized for the first time just how powerful the Creature's magic was; the entire graveyard, save for the tombstone meant for "Link" and the coffin containing the fake's body, was gone. In fact, the entire area looked exactly as it had when the Smashers had first stumbled upon it- a vast, empty wasteland. Speaking of the Smashers, as Pit looked around, he saw strange women with dark brown hair, blood red eyes, and black clothes dragging their unconscious bodies away one by one. It seemed they'd been tricked similarly to Pit...Only they- at least from a distance- appeared to be alive. Pit wanted to run to their aid, but he knew that in his condition there was little chance that he'd be able to save all of them...and he knew, thanks to Link, that they were being taken to the dungeon, just as he would be if he won his battle against the Creature.

_If_ he won.

Pit sighed as he listened for a moment to the song still playing in his head before he finally chose to complete the rest of Link's instructions: lifting his shirt up over his head, Pit began to carefully wrap it around his chest as a makeshift bandage. Unable to get his hands to stop shaking long enough to tie its ends into a knot, Pit instead opted to use his belt to hold the shirt to his body. He only hoped it would stay put during the battle.

"You...You're a real pain in the ass, you know that?" The Creature said, finally recovered from his own shock at being repelled by the Master Sword. "I don't know how you're still alive...but rest assured, you won't be that way for long!" The Creature laughed as his body slowly began changing shape, Pit recoiling as he saw the Creature transform. As the angel looked on, fascinated yet horrified, he realized that the Creature was now about his height, with messy hair covering his head, a dual-bladed polearm held in his right hand, two...gold rings around his arm, two...wings...

It was like looking in a mirror...a dark, evil, scary mirror. The Creature had transformed into what was essentially an evil Pit with darker hair, red eyes, black clothes, and black wings. Even more disturbing, however, was the fact that he was holding Palutena's Bow, Pit's original weapon, in his hand, as evidenced by the fact that he was able to split it into two daggers as Pit had when he was its wielder. The Creature smirked as he saw the dumbstruck look on Pit's face.

"What's wrong? Are you surprised? Come on, Pit. If you know yourself as well as I know you, it should be no problem defeating me. I'll even give you the first move," The Creature's smile widened as Pit shakily drew the Master Sword and Hylian Shield, but his smile deteriorated when Pit charged at him, his poor condition barely affecting his fighting skills. Pit was almost to the Creature when, suddenly, unexpectedly, the '_Song of Healing_' completely stopped, and what strength it had given Pit fled his body. The world seemed to spin as the illusion fell over Pit's eyes once again, dizzying him enough that he closed his eyes to stop the nausea. "Is that all you've got? Pathetic! This is how the angel Pit should charge into battle!"

The Creature let loose a terrifying battle cry, causing Pit to glance up just in time to see his evil double charging toward him with the dagger version of Palutena's Bow raised.

Pit prepared for the worst, sure now that this was the end.

**To Be Continued!**

**Yo, yo, yo, this is Flock o' Seagulls here to tell you that I...don't own Smash Bros. and plan to make no money off of this story. ^_^**

**Phew, that was a **_**long**_** one! The longest yet with 32.3 KB on my computer, and for a good reason; it took me a long time to figure out how to bring Pit back to life so that it would fit with the story. Then I debated for a long time on whether I wanted to go with the idea I had...then...I ended up not having the big fight scene I promised in the A/N last chapter... **_**My deepest apologies if you were looking forward to it! It's in the next chapter, I swear!**_** But on the bright side, I kept one promise I made; this chapter came through faster than the last one did. The last chapter took at least five months for me to complete...**_**this one**_** took four months and twenty-eight days to write, so I have at least two days to spare. Yay! Man, I rock! Just kidding!**

**Ah, but poor Pit. First I take away his best friend, then I put him under all kinds of stress, then I kill him, then I revive him only to torture him into wanting to die again, and by the looks of the ending, Pit **_**is**_** going to die again... My poor, wittle Bunny Honey! It's even worse since I was listening to upbeat music while I tortured him. Ah, how I love Hatsune Miku's song **_**'Melt'**_**, but now Pit probably has PTSD and has a panic attack whenever he hears it.T_T**

_**(Pit is driving down the road in his Hyundai Sonata with Link, Zelda, and Toon Link. Suddenly **_**'Melt'**_** comes on the radio and Pit screams in terror, curling into a ball and crying. He almost drives off the road, but Link quickly grabs the wheel from him and diverts the car from any danger. As Link pulls them off the road safely to trade places with Pit, Zelda rubs Pit's back soothingly. Link turns off the radio and pats Pit's shoulder comfortingly as he drives. Toon Link...sleeps through the whole thing, looking absolutely adorable.)**_

**Okay, I've ranted long enough; it's time for Review Replies! Oh, and...thanks to everyone who wished me encouragement when Gage broke up with me. It really helped. So did blowing up a simulant of him on Perfect Dark and deleting all his save files on my Wii, GCN, and N64, but you guys helped get me back on my feet. Thanks! ^_^**

**Sapphire Drakon: Yes, a fellow sadist! Ah, I love torturing any guy named Link, and Toonie just kind of made for an easy victim. Unfortunately, I think I'll lay off of him for now; I feel kind of guilty, torturing a twelve year old boy. Besides, Pit is still prime real estate. Mwa ha ha! XD You say Chapter 10 wasn't that bloody? Well...I actually agree. My original idea was what got that little disclaimer at the beginning; when Pit opened the coffin originally, Link was going to be much more decomposed...and there were going to be...er...baby flies, if you catch my drift, but then I realized I'd said there was no life in the Evil Realm, so I scrapped that idea. But **_**this**_** chapter, I think, turned out pretty gory, especially at the end.**

**LinkWarriorInGreen: Oh my gosh! I seriously rewatched Pocahontas when you said that! I was thinking "Hmm...I know they sang a song about digging...but...it wasn't the song from the Minish Cap manga...was it?" So, yeah, I investigated, just for Actually, the settlers in the movie were singing "Dig... and dig... and dig... and diggity dig," which matched up to the end of the Minish song, so I'm glad you pointed that out to me. Wah, I'm sorry I killed off three of your top ten! But...you know...there's still hope they'll find a way into the story... Oh, and I have to compliment your name/avatar! Link is my favorite male character of all time (or, at least, part of a tie with Tuxedo Mask from Sailor Moon), and in your avatar he's turned just right so that he's looking right at me...Ah! *faints***

**Shimmerleaf: Why thank you! I certainly hope you enjoyed this (extra long) chapter, too! **

**Captain Black Knight: Wah! Your name is so far down the list! I was worried for a while that you weren't going to review! But you did and that made me very happy! Anyways...Ahh, you have a new boyfriend? Well, not exactly new now, but...I hope you two are still together! If you are, Flock sends you her best. I suppose having a boyfriend clears your name from being Gage, but then again, I always suspected him of being in the closet...and he knew it! No, no, just kidding! I don't suspect you at all! It'd be pretty weird if you were him, though; to think I met my first love through writing fanfiction two years before I met him in real life...^_^ Oh man, I made you cry **_**twice**_**? I feel awful now...At least Link isn't really dead, right? That still doesn't do much for Snake and Samus, though... Now, onto the matter of my cliffhanger...Ha ha! I'm sorry! I sort of reverted back to my old writing style there; I used to write fanfiction exclusively for my best friend to read, and I'd always end at a bad spot to make her mad. I guess I didn't grow out of that. But, hey, most of those questions were answered, and it's obvious now that the story is most definitely **_**not**_** over, so I hope you can forgive me for my bad pre-teen habit. ^_^**

**EggplantWitch: Who do you think the aid is? Please, tell me! I'll cry if I look forward to cookies only to get nothing. Well...I'd cry more if it was cookie dough being offered but... Hmm...I should change one of the genres to "angst" or "horror?" I've been considering it for a while now, and I'm leaning more toward "angst," but I'd like to hear your thoughts on it.**

**cleo01: Done! Did you like the latest chapter? XD**

**...And done! Okay, so next is Chapter 12, which, maybe if I'm lucky will take me four months and twenty-**_**six **_**days to write! The pressure's on to see how long the next chapter takes! BTW...Does anyone care to guess at who the aid to Pit is? I'll give you one hint: It's a Smasher. There's nothing really at risk; I'm just curious to see what the guesses are, so, if you please, add somewhere in a review "Dear Flock, I think the aid is..." Well, maybe not like that, exactly, but you get what I'm saying, right?**

**Well, R&R! Next stop, Chapter 12!**


	12. Chapter 12

**Note: If you've already read Chapter 12 when I uploaded this on the 19th, this is the same chapter. Thanks for pointing out to me that my chapter, for whatever reason, duplicated itself. I fixed it now. I hope.**

He was giggling.

Pit warily opened his eyes when he heard that sound and jumped when he realized that the Creature was standing only a few inches away from him, a disturbing grin plastered on his face. He hadn't actually attacked the angel; rather, he had one of his daggers held against Pit's neck, but he wasn't pressing on it nearly enough to harm him. Pit's adrenal gland kicked into overdrive when he felt the cold weapon against his skin, but perhaps worse than any attack he could have used on the angel, the Creature just stood there and grinned at him for several long, awkward minutes. Pit didn't dare try to run, knowing that with his strength as it was he would never be able to get away; he could only stand there, blue eyes locked on red as the Creature smiled at him, holding his own weapon against him, until finally the Creature burst out laughing, having to pull the dagger away as he doubled over and held his sides in pain.

"You...should see...your face right now! You look so...stupid!" The Creature had to sit down as he laughed at Pit, pointing at his face as tears slid down the monster's face.

Pit was beyond confused. "Wha...?"

"Oh, man...That is rich! How can you have...no clue..." The Creature fell onto his back, rolling from side to side as he continued to laugh. Something was seriously off in that guy's head. "I would never...ever...take you out like that...What fun would that be? But you...totally...fell for it!"

_'Okaaay. Looks like someone forgot to take their meds this morning...'_ Pit thought, more than just a little creeped out by the Creature's behavior. Little did he know, things were about to get creepier; without warning, the Creature squealed like a fangirl, jumped to his feet, and glomped Pit to the ground. The move served a triple purpose; not only was he creeping Pit out with his mood swing from angry to chipper, but now he was also strangling the angel and agitating his wound. Pit was sure this unexpected glomp would have been enough to finish him off until the Creature pulled away from the angel, holding onto Pit's arms as he inspected the damage he had dealt to his adversary.

"Aw, you poor thing," the Creature said, making a "tsk" sound as he caught sight of Pit's sad attempt at dressing his wound. "Look at you! You can't go into battle with this..." Pit suppressed a yelp as the Creature's icy cold fingers went under his shirt and felt around the wound. "Oh, and you're still bleeding, too! You poor, sweet baby!"

Pit wasn't sure which was worse-the fact that the very enemy who'd just been trying to kill him was babying him, or the creepy fact that he was talking to Pit with his own voice.

Oh, if only Pit had known what was coming next, he'd have known that the worst was yet to come: With a strange cry that sounded like "Strip tease!" the Creature pulled the shirt from Pit's torso, leaving the angel feeling rather exposed... and a little dirty. The Creature was giggling again and twirling around with Pit's bloody shirt held high over his head. He looked like a teenage girl who'd just mobbed her favorite actor and gotten away with the shirt off his back.

"Excuse me! What was that about?" Pit yelled, covering his exposed torso both out of embarrassment and the chill in the air. The Creature paused mid-twirl, turning to Pit with an eerily innocent smile on his face.

"Whatever do you mean? I'm just helping out, that's all...Honest!"

"How does stealing my shirt 'help,' exactly? Better yet, why are you helping at all? We're supposed to be dueling to the death right now!"

The angel nearly jumped out of his skin when the Creature turned to him, dark red eyes boring holes in the angel's soul as he wrapped a hand tightly around Pit's throat and hissed, with his own voice rather than Pit's, "Shut up and let me do my job!" Pit swallowed, nodding his head weakly as the Creature smiled, that small fit of rage gone as he released Pit and ran Palutena's Bow through his shirt, cutting it into a long, thin, continuous strip before he wrapped it snugly around Pit's torso, thereby clotting the bleeding and dressing the wound to the best of his ability without the use of antibiotics. He tied off the end and cut the last three inches of cloth away, smiling warmly at his patient and ruffling his hair as he said cheerfully, "There! All done! It's not too tight, is it?"

"Uh...No. Not at all...Thanks..."

"Anytime!" Anytime? The guy had tricked him into killing himself, tortured him mentally and physically, and threatened to kill him again, yet he was promising to mend his wounds "anytime?" Pit had a snarky comment at the ready, but decided against using it out of fear of being unexpectedly attacked again. "So...Now that your wound is dressed, are you ready, sugar?"

Sugar? Really? Pit bit his tongue against yet another verbal attack on the Creature's character, instead asking, "Ready for what?"

"Our duel to the death, of course!"

So he hadn't forgotten that they were enemies. Pit was honestly impressed. "Of course. I've been ready."

"Great!" Pit raised the Hylian Shield, ready for an attack, but instead of attack, the Creature just turned away again, looking over the landscape and rubbing his chin in contemplation. "Now, we just need to choose a venue...One in which we both have an equally good chance of knocking the other out, despite your injuries...Hmm..." The Creature snapped his fingers, saying "Ah! I've got it!" as he turned back to Pit, grinning, "Just give me a second, and I'll get everything all set up!"

"What do you mean-" Pit was cut off as the Creature closed his eyes, placing his hands together as Zelda had when she'd revealed the illusion earlier; however, unlike the Hylian princess, the Creature slowly lifted his hands above his head, chanting something under his breath that caused rings of black light to appear under Pit and himself. It vaguely occurred to Pit that this was the second time today that he was being whisked away to a place that he, in all honesty, didn't want to go to, and worse yet, the method of getting there was almost exactly the same. It had to be some kind of conspiracy between Link and the Creature to make Pit as nauseous from motion sickness as possible before the battle because, as Pit was once again teleported away, his stomach lurched violently and he had to squeeze his eyes shut and put a hand over his mouth to keep from getting sick as the graveyard dissolved into a swirl of browns, blacks, and purples and the ground fell out from under his feet. That's not to say Pit was so dizzy that he toppled over; the ground actually, literally, fell out from under his feet.

Luckily for Pit, his feet found solid ground again only a few seconds later, and more out of curiosity than anything else he opened his eyes to see where the Creature had taken him. The Creature had chosen an arena somewhat akin to the various areas of the World of Trophies- a large platform suspended in midair. There were three levels that Pit could see: a level beneath him, where the Creature was standing, which included the gravestone he'd put in place for the fake Link as well as a crumbling gazebo-like structure; the level Pit was standing on, which was a simple, thin platform; and finally, a row of those annoying Drop Blocks hanging a few feet above Pit's head. Now, if that was all, the stage wouldn't be so bad, but there were several rows of vertical blocks going up the entire length of the stage on every side, the only openings being the two small spaces on either side of the bottom platform, on which there rested two inclines facing outward. In other words, the Creature had taken them to a battlefield where it would be nearly impossible for either one of them to perform a successful knock out, but on the bright side, neither of them stood much of a chance of pulling off a recovery should they be sent outside of the arena.

Pit carefully added pressure to one foot, relieved to discover he was standing on one of those weird phase-through floors as he dropped down to be on the same level as the Creature. "Welcome, dear guest, to 'The Custom Stage of Death.' Or, rather," the Creature got into a fighting stance with Palutena's Bow gripped tightly in his right hand, "welcome to your final resting place."

"Yeah," Pit twirled the Master Sword in his right hand once, "we'll see about that."

Awkwardly enough, Pit heard in his head that mysterious, disembodied voice that seemed to follow him (and, from what he understood, the other Smashers) everywhere he went, just waiting for a battle so that it could yell, "Three...Two...One...Go!" to signal the start of a battle.

The effect on the Creature was instantaneous; it seemed to Pit that, in a single bound, the Creature had crossed the short distance separating him from the angel and lifted his weapon to strike. Instinctively, Pit reacted by dodging to his left, completely forgetting that he had the Hylian Shield that could have been used to block the attack and, thanks to its misuse, instead left most of the angel's body exposed to a second attack. Pit realized this just in the nick of time as the Creature turned toward him and executed Pit's own Angel Ring attack, though the shield didn't stop the pain snaking up and down Pit's arm with each blow. The shield became even more useless when the Creature was able to take advantage of Pit's weak grip on the straps holding it to his arm by executing a final spin that caught under the shield and ripped it from Pit's hold. Pit grimaced against the small pop he felt from his shoulder, though this was nothing compared to the pain of the Creature using the shield to smack Pit in the gut. The angel doubled over in pain, leaving him wide open to another attack from the bow as the Creature struck Pit diagonally across his stomach.

Pit winced against the sharp pain in his gut, but this fresh pain wasn't nearly as bad as the pain he still felt in his chest. Pit managed to sidestep away from another direct hit from the Creature's weapon and attempted to launch a counterattack by knocking the bow out of the way with the Master Sword and then aiming for the Creature's neck, hoping to pull off a one-hit kill before the Creature could injure him any further. Pit's plan might have stood a chance at success if the Creature didn't have the Hylian Shield; just as Pit blocked the Creature's attack, the Creature blocked Pit's attack and, in a slight but unsurprising twist, the Creature forced the shield forward to knock Pit off balance. The angel lost his footing and stumbled to the ground, shaking violently as he fought to stand up. He was well aware that he was at his most vulnerable at that moment, but there was little he could do to protect himself if the Creature decided to move in for a finishing blow.

He was as good as dead.

"Oh, angel boooy!" the Creature yelled, a little too energetically for Pit's taste. He glanced up to see the Creature waving at him with his left hand, the Hylian Shield shaking back and forth in his suspiciously loose grip. For a moment, Pit had a small sense of deja vu; however, instead of a crazy doppleganger yelling happily in his direction, it was a possessed Link yelling happily in Marth's direction. The lithe swordsman had tensed up, prepared for the worst, when... "Catch!" The Creature threw the shield at Pit much as Diabolus Angelus had thrown a blast of energy at Marth. The only difference was that Marth had no idea what to do to defend himself from the attack and was injured as a result; Pit threw himself back to the ground and covered the back of his head, narrowly avoiding a sudden decapitation as the shield went flying over his head and landed so that it teetered precariously on the edge of the platform. Pit glanced back at it for a moment, but it had already caused him enough problems that he wasn't overly concerned about losing it (other than the guilt he might feel later if Link asked what had happened to his precious shield...assuming he won this fight and the later fight with Diabolus Angelus and Ganondorf without killing Link in the process).

The angel finally got to his feet, more than just a little surprised that the Creature wasn't trying to mow him down while he

had the perfect opportunity to do so. Then again, this was probably part of another of his messed up plans to play with Pit's mind...so he got a terrible feeling in his gut when the Creature cocked his head to the side and raised an eyebrow inquisitively before he said, exactly as Pit had feared, "Aren't you going to go after your shield?"

Pit narrowed his eyes suspiciously, but at that exact moment he had an epiphany and his heart quickened as he finally saw a window for victory. He'd be completely vulnerable if he went over to the edge of the arena, bent over, and retrieved his fallen shield. The Creature obviously knew that and was planning to take advantage of the moment... but if Pit utilized his wings at exactly the right moment, then the Creature would be the one closest to the edge, and Pit would be able to gain the upper hand and knock the Creature down and out for the win.

It took all of Pit's willpower to resist smiling and play the part of the helpless victim as he tentatively turned around and walked slowly toward the Hylian Shield, stopping just in front of the slope and turning to give the Creature a wary look for dramatic effect. He turned back slowly and bent over for the shield, listening closely for the telltale shuffling of sandals against the rock floor that would indicate that the Creature had fallen for his trap. His enemy did not disappoint; within a span of four seconds the Creature bounded over to Pit and raised the bow to strike him down, not in the least bit suspicious that Pit was preparing to pull a fast one and turn the tide of battle.

Pit lifted his wings to fly out of harm's way...

...and he felt something restrict his wings, keeping him land bound and unable to avoid the Creature's strike. The blunt end of the bow hit Pit across the forehead, throwing him off balance and causing him to fall so that the back of his head hit the shield with enough force that Pit's vision momentarily faded out again, and a migraine unlike anything Pit had ever felt before struck as the now familiar feeling of blood flowing outside of his body returned, this time coming from the back of his head. The angel moaned softly as he propped himself up on his right elbow and reached around to his back with his left hand, attempting to figure out if it had been some outside force that had prevented him from flying. His hand came across the makeshift tourniquet that the Creature had so "kindly" made for him, and it suddenly became clear to Pit that the Creature had, in fact, tapered down Pit's wings to prevent him from flying. It had been an ingenious trap to keep Pit from pulling off the ultimate switcheroo all along. Pit was both impressed with the Creature for pulling off such a brilliant ruse in the guise of a bizarre gesture of friendship...and embarrassed that he hadn't noticed that the most vital part of his body had been restricted without him realizing it until it truly mattered.

"All's fair in a fight to the death, Pitto-chan!" The Creature said in a sing-song voice.

It briefly occurred to Pit that the Creature was able to read his mind, but then he realized that was probably a given, considering the fact that he had manipulated Pit so that he would attempt suicide based on his dreams, not to mention his ability to copy all of Pit's fighting moves. Between this painful revelation and the wounds Pit had sustained before the battle began, it was clear as day to Pit that he had stood a snowball's chance in hell of winning this fight from the very beginning, and that the Creature was only fighting him as a sick form of torture.

"Thaaaat's right!" the Creature yelled shrilly, making Pit flinch. "M'Lady gave me orders to make you suffer as much as possible! To be honest, though, you've lasted much longer than I expected you would! You're quite the hard egg to crack!" The Creature sighed and held his bow against Pit's neck again. This time, there was no creepy smile gracing his face; he was actually planning to kill Pit. "Unfortunately, all good things must come to an end! It's a shame, really! If it were up to me, I'd take you in to be M'Lady's new body instead of that blond creep! Too bad you don't seem to have any active powers of your own, but...that's life, I guess!" The Creature shrugged, causing his weapon to nick Pit's skin. Pit gnashed his teeth together, this time out of anger at his enemy's words rather than pain.

"That 'blond creep' is twice the fighter you'll ever be. Your only real ability is copying your opponent's moves. Other than that, all you can really do is fight dirty by messing with people's minds. The worst stuff Link had in his arsenal were bombs and a shield. So, who's really the creep here?"

The Creature's annoying smile transformed almost instantly into a sneer, but before Pit could celebrate his successful attempt at getting under the Creature's skin the way he'd been getting under Pit's skin since they first met, the Creature pulled his weapon away from Pit's neck and thrust it into his right shoulder. The pain was so intense that Pit thought he could feel his shoulder dislocating, but at that point he was too exhausted and weak from blood loss to care. It didn't matter to him anymore that he was about to be decapitated by some sociopath; it wasn't like he could put up much of a fight with his good hand decommissioned and his wings held fast against his back, anyways. So when the Creature pressed the bow against Pit's neck again, the angel didn't even flinch as he looked the doppleganger in the eyes and made his peace.

It was a fun, wild ride while it lasted...

The Creature swung the bow away from Pit to build up speed for his finishing blow, and for a brief moment, the attack made Pit think of Marth and Link and triggered a flashback. He saw himself, completely wiped out, sweat causing his toga to cling to his body, his throat and mouth dried out from dehydration, breathing haggard as if he'd just been in the fight of his life... because he'd just spent ten minutes climbing the many stairs of Hyrule Castle with Link to find Princess Zelda and make sure she was safe after their very first run-in with the Rabbids. Link, being more used to regular exercise, had already made it to the throne room, while Pit sluggishly made his way up the final staircase. As Pit came across the last of the stairs, he happened to glance up and see that Link was in a fight with someone (later revealed to be Marth), and that Link's opponent had knocked Link off balance and was moving in for a final blow; almost the exact same predicament Pit found himself in now. Link dodged to the side, avoiding the attack, rolled, and came up behind Marth with a sword attack. At that point, Pit had finally reached the top of the stairs and laid down on the floor as he tried to catch his breath. He looked up when he heard Link and Marth's fight continue in the distant part of the throne room, and that was when Ike came out of nowhere and tried to strike Pit while he was down...which also mirrored Pit's current predicament. The angel rolled out from under the mercenary's Aether attack...

'"When you fight the Creature, try to remember...fight with Link...You know better than anyone how effective his attacks were..."' It wasn't exactly what Link had told Pit during that unusual dream he'd had while he was dead, but the basic point of his words had definitely gotten across to Pit.

The fight wasn't over just yet after all.

Switching the Master Sword to his left hand, Pit rolled out from under the Creature just as he swung the bow down, then, mirroring his memory of Link as closely as possible, he rolled again so that he was behind the Creature, leapt to his feet, and struck the Creature in the back with his weapon, successfully pulling off Link's Back Slice technique and landing his first successful blow against his enemy. It was just an added bonus that, thanks to his desire to imitate Pit, the Creature's wings received most of the damage, mangling them enough that there was no way he could use them and therefore leveling the playing field.

The Creature hissed against the pure agony he was feeling thanks to Pit's unexpected counterattack. He glanced back to see just how bad the damage was, but this became the least of his worries when he noticed the small, confident smile on Pit's face. Considering that it had been the Creature wearing that exact same look on his face until just a minute ago, it was understandable that he was outraged to see his enemy gloating over his single successful attack.

In a blind fit of rage, the Creature gave a war cry and rushed at Pit, but the angel quickly read which of his attacks was coming at him and easily cancelled out the Creature's dash attack with a simple swing of the Master Sword. The Creature snarled and pushed Pit's weapon out of the way, going in for another hit to the angel's torso. Pit dodged to avoid the attack, but his right shoulder took the brunt of yet another blow. The angel gritted his teeth and fought down his urge to rub at the wound, despite the obvious pain it was putting him in. Tending to his wound would leave him more vulnerable than he already was, after all.

"Hmm...You seem to know which attacks to use, but you're not used to fighting left-handed, and in that regard, you're at quite a disadvantage. You should have just given up and let me kill you."

"Then you'd still have the advantage over me. In the time it took you to try and cut me down, I figured out your whole shtick," Pit said. He was rather proud of himself when he caught sight of a very small but noticeable twitch in the Creature's facial muscles. He had him right where he wanted him. "You've obviously studied all of my attacks and memorized them well in advance for this fight. At first, I thought you were reading my mind, but now I'm pretty sure that your masters used their combined knowledge of my skills and the information they could glean from Link's memories to teach you all of the attacks I had at my disposal. Even though I was using Link's sword and shield, I still moved in the same way to pull of an attack, so all you needed to see were the ways I moved my arms and legs to know which move I was attempting. However," Pit leaned over and, despite the pain it put him through, lifted up the Hylian Shield and put it on his right arm, "you didn't count on me doing the same thing. In the short time I spent with Link, I saw, basically, every last one of his sword techniques. I may only be working off my memory of his motions rather than my own muscle memory, but it's still enough to throw you off your game. Oh, and, for the record," Pit twirled the Master Sword in his hand and smirked. It didn't take a genius to notice that he did so more skillfully than he had when he did the exact same thing at the start of this battle with his right hand, "I'm actually left-handed, so I'm perfectly within my element."

A final smirk from Pit was all the Creature saw before the angel, without the use of his wings, managed to use only a typical jump and a slightly higher midair jump to reach the platform above him where he'd started the battle, then, after, phasing back through the floor, curled most of his body inward to gain speed while both of his hands remained wrapped around the Master Sword's hilt to keep it steady as Pit sped through the air toward his target. It was the downward thrust attack. The Creature tried to shield himself against the attack, but his bow was hardly enough to protect him from the angel, and in the end it only served as a place for Pit to rest his knees as he drove the Master Sword as deep into his enemy's back as was humanly possible. An earsplitting scream filled the air as pain unlike anything he had ever felt before seared the Creature's body because it wasn't just any old sword being forced into his body, but a sword with the power to repel evil. Just like the two Master Swords combined ripped Nana apart from the inside out, the lone Master Sword was slowly breaking the Creature down molecule by molecule.

Even the Creature himself had no idea how he worked up the strength to land a weak blow to Pit's head that knocked him off of his enemy and, therefore, forced the Master Sword out of his body, but as he stood there, as weak from the two rather strong blows Pit had dealt him as Pit was from the multiple hits the Creature had landed on him, he knew that Pit had managed to level the playing field enough that each of them only had one chance left to win this fight. Panting heavily, the Creature got to his feet and placed both hands firmly on the center of the bow, holding it off to his side with one end of its long blades pointed at Pit. The angel grimaced when his enemy let loose a terrifying howl before making a mad dash toward Pit, and the angel, preparing himself the only way he knew how, held the Master Sword in both of his hands slowly pulling it back behind his left shoulder like a baseball player getting ready to take the swing that would either make or break the team's victory during the big game.

As the Creature approached he thrust the bow forward, and Pit instinctively did the same...

The pain that hit the angel was fast and intense, but thankfully, it seemed Palutena and Link's goddess, Farore, were giving him their blessings. Thanks to Pit's decision to fight left-handed, the Hylian Shield had protected Pit's heart while his arms were both held to his left side, so with nowhere else to go, the Creature's attack could only hit Pit in the right side of his chest. It was still incredibly painful, but unlike the last attack to successfully strike Pit's chest, this wound wasn't fatal.

The Creature, however, was not so lucky. Pit had managed to bypass the Creature's arms and Palutena's bow and get the Creature right in the heart. The vital organ couldn't take the purity of the Master Sword and was destroyed almost instantly. The Creature was dead before he hit the ground.

Pit pulled the Master Sword out of his enemy's body, wiping it clean on his shorts and placing it back into its sheath just as the Creature's magic wore out and the Custom Stage of Death vanished and Pit was returned to the nearly empty field he'd left only moments before. "I...won..." The angel muttered softly, feeling he had to say it to prove to himself that it was true. Despite sustaining the most injuries and having a major handicap, Pit had won the battle. He glanced down at his fallen enemy to find that his body had, like the battlefield itself, completely disappeared without a trace, and now assured that his victory was final, the angel fell to his knees in relief, looking around him at the towering temple where Ganondorf and Diabolus Angelus were hiding out. "Just one more battle... Just one more and I'll save Link...Three hours...should be enough time...I hope..." Pit sighed. He was so relieved yet so stressed by the thought of his final battle that he wanted to cry, but at the moment he was too exhausted and dizzy from bloodloss to work up the energy for something like that. He did, however, have the energy to glance up and see two of the women in black clothes who'd carried his friends to the dungeon coming his way to lead him to a similar fate, and, smiling like a madman, Pit willingly held up his arms to be lead to the dungeon and muttered proudly to them, "I won..." before he blacked out. Whether it was exhaustion or his injuries behind the blackout didn't matter to Pit; as far as he was concerned, he deserved a little rest.

**To Be Continued!**

**Hello, there. I'm the Flock o' Seagulls. I don't own Smash Bros.; not Smash 64, Melee, Brawl, or... heh... Strife, if the rumors I heard at the Nintendo panel at an anime convention are true.**

**Hmm...This...did not fall into the five months or under catagory like the last two chapters did... but before I go into detail explaining why, I want to ask you all a very serious question: Is Pit yet another addition to the Smashers Who Are Way Sexier Because They're Left-Handed Club, or is he just another boring right-handed oppressionist? See, I was always under the assumption that Pit was a righty, but when I went to the Smash Bros. Wikipedia (to look up some things for this chapter), I looked up Pit and under trivia it said that he's actually left-handed. Now, I know that any wikipedia is prone to inaccuracies, but there is just a little bit of evidence supporting their claim: Pit fires arrows in the lefty fashion of holding the bow in his right hand. It's not a whole lot to go on, though. Link, despite being portrayed as right-handed in Skyward Sword, still uses his bow like a lefty, so...Which is Pit? Until someone comes up with undeniable evidence either way, he's remaining left-handed in my story, but he fights just fine right-handed, too!**

**Phew, it felt good getting that out of my system...Now onto my excuse for the chapter's lateness: 1) Right after I finished the last chapter, I realized Valentine's Day was fast approaching, so I started working on another fic and, once it was completed a few days late, I avoided the computer for a while because I stayed up late each night and woke up early each morning trying to get it done before it was a whole week late. 2) I moved...again. This time I moved back in with my dad, who lives in my hometown. I spent a lot of my free time packing once he finally realized I was serious about moving back in with him. Luckily, my sister bought me a little Smart Book as a graduation gift last year, so I was able to keep working on this story, but it doesn't get internet access, my dad doesn't have the internet (and his computer is from the '90s), and our local library has a parental block that keeps me from accessing FF. I actually had to seize the opportunity to finish this up back at my mom's house when I came to stay over and babysit her dog while she went out to eat for her birthday. Who knows when I'll get the next chapter up...I'm hoping soon, because I like the content of the next chapter, but with my plans to get a job in the near future, I might be swamped for a while...I hope not.**

**Okay, enough sad talk! Now it's time for Review Replies!**

**cleo01: You're very welcome! I hope you liked this chapter, too!**

**EggplantWitch: Another four months...Ooh, I feel horrible reading that now. Speaking of horror, I think I'll agree with you now. Looking back at how many times I used the word blood, and the creepy/gory direction this story is taking, I suppose it deserves to belong in that genre. Now, I just need to decide if T is a high enough rating. Aww...No, they aren't the aid (no cookies for me...*sniff*) but it was a good guess! You can feel free to try again if you like. I think I'll reveal the aid in the next chapter, so it's your last chance to guess. And what's wrong with Pit and Roy being the same person? The first time I saw Pit in his Brawl look, I though 'Hark! He looks a lot like Roy!' Well, maybe not that dramatically, but...that was basically my reaction.**

**Captain Black Knight: "Evil bitch?" But...but...I based her off of me...Wah! (*runs away crying...comes back a few minutes later*) Nah, just kidding. Although I really did kind of base her off of me. Yes! I was hoping that I would confuse people with the whole Roy and Pit thing, and based on some of the other reviews, it seems I succeeded! I'm sorry you had to wait so long...I really can't recommend anything to do to fill the time between chapters...Augh, now I feel bad! Let's both hope I can get the next chapter done soon. Oh, and it's quite obvious why Pit can drive; in my messed up mind, all the characters are actually actors doing, basically, a live action production version of my story. (*imagines Link in casual clothes*) Oooh, yeah...**

**Donna: Hmm...Your thoughts on Pit and Roy are true, as are your ideas of why the others can't be the aid, but Roy is not the aid. I'm sorry for making you wait so long, although it was partially seeing your review that fueled me to finish up this chapter.**

**And...done! Well, read and review and I'll try to get the next chapter done and ready for reading as soon as possible!**


	13. Chapter 13

It had only been about ten minutes that Pit had been unconscious, but with no way of knowing as much himself, Pit immediately panicked when he woke up, the idea that he had already missed his small window of opportunity to save Link giving him the boost in strength he needed to lift himself into a sitting position and take in his surroundings. The first thing to strike Pit was that someone had cleaned and dressed his wounds and that he'd been wrapped in Ike's tattered red cape to keep him warm. The second thing Pit noticed was that he was still holding the Master Sword as tightly in his hand as he could manage, but the Hylian Shield was gone. No doubt, his captors had intended to leave the angel disarmed, but the Master Sword, being the Blade of Evil's Bane, rejected them when they attempted to take it, so they'd had no choice but to let Pit keep it. Then, there was Pit's final, but certainly most important, observation- the unusually familiar figures he recognized scattered among the silhouettes of the companions he'd journeyed to the Evil Realm with. At first, Pit thought that he was just hallucinating from blood loss, but when he attempted to stand up and scraped the Master Sword lightly against the ground as a result, one particular figure- a young woman with long blond hair pulled up into a ponytail and a blue, skin-tight bodysuit- turned to look at him, and something in him suddenly knew that he wasn't hallucinating.

"Samus!"

Everyone turned to look at the angel over his happy cry, and for the first time since Link had been captured, Pit's heart swelled with joy. With the obvious exceptions of Link, Ganondorf, and Bowser (who was still trapped in Luigi's Poltergust 3000 since his fight with Mario), all of the Smashers who'd been presumably killed and buried in the Creature's graveyard were gathered in the dungeon. Even Popo and Satoshi's friend, Shigeru, were there, although both were in worst shape than Pit since their individual battles with Diabolus Angelus; Popo, much like Pit and Toon Link, was wrapped up in bandages yet recovered enough to be able to move around like the others, while Shigeru, still drained of his energy after Diabolus Angelus's attack, was basically reduced to skin and bones and was lying on the floor much like Pit, being carefully guarded by Satoshi.

Pit wanted to put into words the joy he felt at discovering that he friends hadn't met their end as he'd previously believed, but all he could say was, "You're…all okay?"

"Yeah, basically. What about you?"

"I-I'm fine," Pit was obviously lying, but between his unexpected victory, the ten minutes of rest, and this overwhelmingly joyous reunion, Pit was, if nothing else, in high spirits. "All I care about at the moments is you guys. What happened to get everyone brought here? We were put under the impression that you were all dead."

The other Smashers glanced over at Popo, indicating that he was the most well informed over the circumstances that lead to everyone's capture. Adorably enough, Nana walked over to him and placed her hand in his, giving him a nod to indicate that she was okay with him telling them the whole story, including the moment when Nana was possessed by the enemy and forced to attack her partner. Obviously, someone had helped fill her in on her missing memory.

"Okay, since you want to know… When the Rabbids attacked Princess Peach's Castle, Nana and I ran after them when they started to retreat. We lost sight of the Rabbids, and instead we ended up face-to-face with Ganondorf. He used that stone to take control of Nana, and the monster that possessed her forced her to fight me. Even though she was possessed, I knew I couldn't fight Nana, so the monster knocked me around and then dragged me to the World of Trophies and into the caves of King Dedede's castle. Ganondorf used his magic to give nana an adult body so she'd have an easier time taking down the others, and that's when she went out and fought everyone else in one-on-one battles before dragging them back her as well. You'll have to ask them what the battles were like."

"We've pretty much all come to the conclusion that fighting Nana was hell. She had magic at her disposal, too, so none of us stood much of a chance when we fought her. She was too strong," Snake added, holding a cigarette in his hand, but, for the sake of the others in the cramped dungeon, he refrained from lighting it.

Nana blushed, embarrassed by her inability to stop Diabolus Angelus from taking over her body and fighting her friends, but Popo squeezed her hand reassuringly and smiled before continuing his own tale, "Eventually, everyone who didn't become a part of your group was rounded up in The cave. At first, none of us had any idea why we were being gathered together like this, but after nana fought Satoshi and Shigeru, it suddenly became clear to us. She draws on our energy to increase her power. After she drained Shigeru, she combined her power with Ganondorf's and transformed the World of Trophies into the wasteland we're in now."

The Smashers who hadn't been around when the others made this discovery were completely blown away. "You mean this place is actually the World of Trophies… just like Subspace?"

"Yes, unfortunately."

"Hold on! Me and Toon Link came through the World of Trophies just yesterday when we accidentally ran into each other on our way to hunt down the others. Ganondorf made the portal that lead us all here only about an hour or so later. Are you saying it took them less than an hour to do all this with just Geru's energy?" Satoshi asked.

"Yeah. And that was just with one regular human's power. With all of us gathered here like this, they're obviously planning to steal our energy and use it to transform the entire planet, if not the entire galaxy or even the entire universe, into a wasteland ruled by them. And, since they let Shigeru live, it's even possible that they're planning to let us recover so Link can keep using us for an unlimited source of power."

Everyone, including the Smashers who already knew Diabolus Angelus's plan, went pale at the thought that they were only a source of fuel for an evil monster and her master's plans. "So, the basic gist of what you're saying is that you believe we're all going to die here, sucked dry so that we can help some horrible monster with her plans of world domination?" Mario asked.

"Pretty much. Before you all arrived, we tried every trick at our disposal to escape, but… since those of us with weapons were disarmed when we were brought here, we haven't had much success."

"Well, most of us are unarmed, too, except for Pit and Toon Link, but I don't think weapons would do much good against iron bars, anyways," Ike said.

"What about magic and PSI powers? We've got Princess Zelda, Lucas, and Ness with us. Maybe their powers will be up to the task," Luigi said hesitantly. The three Smashers in question got to their feet quickly, eager to attempt to aid in regaining their freedom. Each of them prepared their strongest attacks- Zelda's Din's Fire, Lucas's PK Freeze, and Ness's PK Flash- and cast them against the bars. When nothing happened, they continued their assault, not at all put off by the fact that their attacks were having no effect on their prison.

While the three Smashers were busy with their assault, the others gathered around Pit, eager to hear his story after he'd heard theirs. "All right, fess up. Everyone's curious to hear how you managed to survive long enough to make it this far. We originally thought that the creepy guy in the robes used the same magic to make us think we were in a graveyard to make us believe you ran Link's sword through your heart, then we were knocked unconscious and dragged here. Upon seeing your injuries, however, it looks like what we saw was the genuine article. So tell us, how are you still breathing?" Ike asked.

Pit grimaced as he recalled the events leading to his rather unusual near-death experience, feeling over the bandages wrapped around the freshly cleaned wound before finally confessing his own tale to the others as briefly as possible, "What you saw was real, but what I saw was an illusion. The Creature- that's what the guy in the robes was really called- made me believe that Link was in the coffin and that I'd failed to save him. He… used the nightmare I had last night about killing Link and Toon Link and then killing myself to repent for it to convince me to kill myself," Pit glanced up, noticing the startled look on Luigi's face. He was obviously remembering the unpleasant wake up call Pit had gotten the same way Pit was. The angel continued, "I remember seeing the coffin that was supposedly holding Link's body in it right before I blacked out, and then…" Pit paused, a small blush heating his face as he tried to come up with some way to mention his encounter with Link without it making him sound crazy. When no new ideas came to him, he decided to wing it, "Okay, this'll sound really strange, but I think I was caught in the middle of watching some sort of past life flashing before my eyes when I regained my senses because the next thing I knew, I was dressed like Marth and lying in this huge, dark room with this horrible injury."

Pit's blush worsened, the angel embarrassed that he'd revealed his speculation on what that unusual encounter had been, but the others weren't nearly as put off by it as he'd expected. "So… You think, rather than your own life flashing before your eyes, it was someone else's?" Peach asked, obviously interested in the idea.

"Yeah. But… I'm not totally sure because it fit so well with what I was actually supposed to be doing at the time. I heard someone playing an ocarina, and when I looked over, it was Link. He looked sort of different, too, but I could tell it was him. He basically told me that I had to fight with the Creature, and if I somehow managed to win, I'd be brought here to you guys. He said he would help me by bridging the gap between my soul and my body and healing my wound as much as he could, so he started playing the same song again, and suddenly I was back in my body. But… right before I woke up, he called me 'Roy' for some reason."

As soon as Pit finished, he noticed this strange, distant look in some of the others' eyes, namely Mario, Donkey Kong, Samus, Luigi, Kirby, Marth, Peach, Zelda, Fox, Falco, Ness, Yoshi, Captain Falcon, the Ice Climbers, and Mr. Game and Watch (although his was less a look in the eyes and more him suddenly getting still and facing Pit.) "Roy… Huh. That name sounds kind of familiar, actually," Marth muttered, "and you said you were dressed like me?" Pit confirmed as much with a nod. "Yeah, that's sort of eerie. Just out of curiosity, were you in that same persona in your nightmare? The one where you killed Link and Toon Link, I mean?"

"Y-Yeah. Why?"

"Were you standing… in the middle of a fountain floating in the sky? And did I try to stop you from killing yourself?"

All the color drained from Pit's face. "How did you know that?"

"I don't really know. I feel like it actually happened, but I know I've never experienced anything like that before. It's like when we were at Princess Peach's Castle, and Link said he felt like he'd been there before, but he'd never gone there in his entire life…" Marth's voice trailed off, and he found himself staring pensively down at the floor before shaking his head and saying, a little louder than he'd intended, "You know what, let's drop it! This is getting too weird!"

Honestly, Pit wanted to pursue the topic further to look for the connection between this experience he and Marth mysteriously shared and Link's experience, but at that moment Lucas, Zelda, and Ness rejoined the group and dropped to the floor, having exhausted themselves from the effort they'd uselessly put into trying to escape.

"It's no good. The bars are too strong for our spells. Maybe if we could use our Final Smashes, we'd be able to get out of here, but unless we start a brawl here in the cell, I doubt a Smash Ball will conveniently appear," Zelda sighed.

"In other words, we're stuck here until they decide they have no further use for us," Samus mumbled.

Silence permeated the cell for a full minute as the hopelessness of their situation hit home for the Smashers. Most just sighed, the Ice Climbers clung to each other, Lucas and Ness went over and hunkered down next to Toon Link, who was trying to hold back his tears as he thought about Link's no inevitable death as Diabolus Angelus finished taking over his body, Mario and Peach held hands, and Ike and Marth went over and sat next to Zelda and Pit, for the same reason Ness and Lucas went over to Toon Link.

Of course, there would always be those idiots who would try use a desperate situation as an excuse to live out some big fantasy they'd always harbored, knowing that they would never be able to get away with it under normal circumstances. Samus sighed as she heard footsteps approach her, and she didn't need to look as she said threateningly, "Touch me, Falcon, and you'll lose that hand. Same goes for you, Snake."

Captain Falcon took the hint and backed off. Snake, however, was harder to deter. "Aw, come on. As long as we're going to eventually die here, we'd may as well make our last moments on Earth… enjoyable."

Samus turned to see Snake looking at her suggestively, and, before the mercenary could prepare for the assault, the femme fatale swiftly kicked him in a most sensitive area, then, while he was doubled over in pain, she brought her leg back and kicked him in the head, knocking him to the floor. "I wouldn't agree to live out any of those fantasies in your perverted head if you were the last man on Earth!" Samus flipped her hair back into place and sauntered off to join her fellow women. Most of the others just snickered, but Satoshi only stared after Samus, his keen eyes picking up on a rather important detail.

A large grin spread out across the Pokemon Trainer's lips, and he scurried to his feet to grab everyone's attention and share his huge finding with them. "Guys, I just thought of something! Smash Balls aren't the only way to trigger a Final Smash!"

"Er… yes. They are. If there was another way to use them, we wouldn't have beat the crap out of each other every time a Smash Ball appeared just so we could use them," Mario said.

"No, there's another way! Think about it! Whenever one of us was knocked out and we had extra lives, sometimes when we came back, we'd automatically be able to use our Final Smashes without having to grab a Smash Ball first! And it's not just here in the World of Trophies! When I fought Nana in my world, I was so angry about her attack on Geru that I was able to use my Final Smash, but since I didn't have my regular Pokemon, it came out as Pikachu's Final Smash instead! And it's not just me, either! Marth used his Final Smash when Diabolus Angelus took control of Link in Luigi's Mansion, and Samus just glowed like she was able to use her Final Smash after she fought off Snake's advances, but her glow went away when she calmed down! I think we can trigger a natural ability to use our Final Smashes as long as we're feeling a strong sense of anger!"

The others sat back, obviously more than a little stunned when they realized Satoshi had a valid point. If they could just enrage one of their own enough to instigate a Final Smash, they could easily escape from their prison and continue with their mission!

"The question now is, whose Final Smash has the best chance of breaking through the bars without hurting anyone?" The Smashers exchanged glances, occasionally looking down at themselves in deep thought.

"The whole point of Final Smashes _is_ to hurt each other, though," Zelda finally said. "The most harmless one would be Peach's, but it doesn't cause enough damage to break through the bars, and even if it did, the rest of us would fall asleep and be caught."

"Yeah. If the cell was just a little bigger, Jigglypuff could puff up and break down the wall, but as it is he… she… it… would crush us in the process."

"Same goes for Nana and Popo's Final Smash."

"And Game and Watch's."

"Mario and Samus pull you in… Princess Zelda's, Prince Marth's, Toon Link's, and Ike's are only strong when they hit someone… Pit's might be powerful enough, but we'd all have to be wicked good at dodging to avoid being hit ourselves, and some of us aren't exactly strong enough to be able to do it right now."

"Sonic, Wario, Pikachu, Diddy Kong, and Yoshi can barely control theirs…"

This went on for quite a while, every Smasher pointing out the flaws in using each other's Final Smashes to break out, the case typically being that they would kill each other or that the attack wasn't potent enough to do anything or, as was the case for Olimar, Lucario, Captain Falcon, and Snake, they had to leave the arena to use their attacks, which, if that would work, they would have already tried it.

Tempers were flaring as some Smashers took the rejection of their attacks to be an attack on their character when Peach, if only to prevent a major brawl from breaking out, suggested quietly, "What about Luigi's Negative Zone attack?"

Apparently, she hadn't suggested it quietly enough; the room went dead silent as every Smasher turned to stare at the princess, wide-eyed. "Did you just say Luigi?"

"Well… yeah. Why not?"

"Oh, I don't know. Maybe it's just that his attack is a total wild card that can affect everything around him in a variety of ways!" Marth yelled, throwing his hands into the air for emphasis.

"Yes, and one of them just might be enough to get us out of here."

"Or it could kill us!"

"It won't kill us. The worst that would happen is we wouldn't be able to stop tripping over our own two feet or be slowed way down… or we'd fall asleep… or… be dizzy… Huh. Maybe it isn't our best choice…"

"It's still better than just sitting around, waiting for someone to come finish us off while we're defenseless. We'll try getting Luigi angry enough to use his Final Smash. If nothing happens, I think our next best choice might actually be Mr. Game and Watch, since we can duck and he can float higher to avoid hitting us. Is that okay with you, Luigi?" Pit said with a small smile.

"Yeah. I'll do my best."

"Good. Now, does anyone have a suggestion for how we'll go about doing this?"

"Oh, yes. Definitely," Mario said as he made his way over to his brother. Luigi got a terrible feeling that he knew what Mario was thinking as he looked down at his older twin in a mixture of curiosity and dread. His fear was well founded. "Friends, have any of you ever heard of breaking the fourth wall?"

The others glanced at each other, everyone shrugging their shoulders or shaking their heads no. Mario smiled; Luigi sank to the floor in misery and tried to cover his ears. "Nuh uh. What is it?" Toon Link asked.

"Well, it's when characters in some form of media- books, movies, television shows, video games… fan fiction- show proof that they know that their world is fake, either by referencing their own franchise like I do or talking to either the audience or their creator. Luigi is dead set against breaking the fourth wall when he can help it, although he did once write in his diary that he wanted to go on his own adventure and have his name in the title. He was actually foreshadowing his future adventures in the game 'Luigi's Mansion.'"

"You read my diary?"

"Of course. You didn't hide the entrance to the basement very well, so it's your own fault. Now, then…" Mario looked at his brother with a maniacal smirk, "As long as we're on the subject of fourth wall breakage, let's begin by discussing the utter lack of continuity in our current environment. Back in chapter two, 'Super Mario 64' was referred to as taking place twelve years ago, meaning it was 2008 when the story was beginning. Fine, right? Well, as recently as chapter seven, 'Luigi's Mansion' was mentioned as taking place eight years earlier… making the year at the time 2009... Yet, according to the author, this entire story's only taken place in the span of two or three days. Does this mean we may sometime see some reference to 'Super Mario Galaxy' taking place four years ago or 'Galaxy 2' taking place last year, or, heaven forbid, some mention of the 3DS and Wii U or even 'The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword' and 'Kid Icarus: Uprising'? There's no continuity in the date referencing."

The others began discussing Mario argument amongst themselves, and Luigi drew his legs up to his chest and rested his head on them, sighing miserably. "It isn't working, bro. Just give up."

"Oh, but I'm just getting started. We haven't even breached the topic of Pit's mortality despite a specific moment in chapter seven when the author said Pit couldn't die, and we're nowhere near the topic of Pit's unusual tram formation from a happy-go-lucky, child-like optimist to brooding, always depressed, serious pessimist from the eighth chapter to the ninth. Nor have we discussed the obvious fact that Link was always receiving all the horrible suffering until it culminated in his being possessed, suddenly making Pit and Toon Link the objects of the author's sadistic tendencies. Which brings me to ask the question, why does she choose the left-handed characters to be the ones who suffer when she, herself, is a lefty? It is, to say the least, peculiar."

"I'm telling you, it isn't working. All you're doing is making a few good points. Try something else. Better yet, let someone different try something else. On second thought, I'm pretty sure it'll take a lot more than any of you are capable of to set me off, so why don't you torture someone else?"

Most of the Smashers sighed along with Luigi, but there was another member of the group who knew all the right ways to push Luigi's buttons and set Luigi off on an explosive rant. Much to everyone's surprise, it was Princess Peach who took Mario's place, crouching down to be eye-level with Luigi, and said, in her usual sweet tone, "Now, Luigi, you can't really think there's nothing capable of setting you off. Have you already forgotten all about… L is real 2401?"

Luigi's head shot up in an instant, his face a ghastly shade of white as he stared at his princess. "No… You wouldn't dare. Not again…"

"Yes, Luigi. I would. You know, I've never understood what that plaque mean. Maybe the others could help us figure it out."

"No!"

But Luigi's pleas went unheard, as the others eagerly tuned in to the princess's discussion of what was apparently some big hot button topic. Anticipating her friends' confusion, Peach quickly explained, "In the courtyard of my castle, there's a fountain with a statue of a star at its center. Underneath the star is this unusual plaque that appears to say, oddly enough, 'L is real 2401 in paper M'. Neither Mario nor myself were able to figure out just what it meant, or, for that matter, if that was what it really said, but we've always figured it was somehow connected to Luigi, so we've hounded him with our different conspiracy theories to the point of driving him insane."

"Yes, and I reached my breaking point years ago. I'm telling you, all that plaque says is 'Eternal Star'. It makes perfect sense that way. Why would a statue in your castle have anything to do with me? Better yet, how do you have no idea what the plaque say yourself? It's your castle! I'm willing to bet you had the statue made that way expressly so you could bother me about it!"

"Ohhh, no. Not at all. That castle is ancient. I'm willing bet one of my ancestors saw you in a prophetic vision and had it made to warn of your arrival."

"What have I done in the past to warrant having to warn people about me?"

"Your stint as Mr. L, of course!"

"Hey, that was a long time ago, and I was brainwashed! It doesn't count!"

"That's it! L is real was a warning from the past that you would be easily manipulated into turning against the kingdom! And the 2401 was some sort of dating system to give us the exact moment it would happen! But… if you separate it into 2/4/01, that was February 4, 2001, and nothing particularly interesting happened that day, although the next day we were all turned into paper… Maybe it's actually the year 2401... But that's ages from now, unless… You're immortal!"

"That's ridiculous! If Mario argument is true, even an angel like Pit isn't immortal, so how could I be? Better yet, if I'm immortal, that means Mario must be immortal, too, and there's nothing in your prophecy about him!"

Luigi had hoped that he'd made a good enough point to make Peach drop this stupid argument, but the princess merely let loose a bone-chilling laugh that made Luigi's skin crawl. "No, no! Mario wasn't captured and brainwashed by Count Bleck like you were, dear."

"And what does that have to do with-"

"According to the basic laws of pop culture, anyone with the title of 'Count' is automatically a vampire, and you know how the old saying goes: 'You have to be a Dracula to give birth to a Dracula.'"

"You think I'm a vampire?"

"Oh, most definitely! It explains how you'll be able to live to see the year 2401 and bring about the end of days like the prophecy says. It also explains why you're so pale, why you own such a creepy old mansion, and why it is that, for whatever spooky reason, your mansion is almost always seen only in the dead of night-"

"You're insane!" Luigi yelled, throwing his hands up over his head. For just a brief second, his eyes turned completely yellow and body glowed red. The others instinctively backed away as they realized that Luigi was just moments away from unleashing his Final Smash, but Luigi, thinking that Peach had actually convinced them that he was a vampire and that they were backing away in fear of him, just got more upset, "I'm not a vampire! Just the other day, you saw me standing in the sun, with Mario, and I wasn't burned to a cinder! Also, is it just me, or does your take on that ridiculous prophecy change every time you talk about it? Since when was I bringing about the apocalypse? Nothing you've said has made any sense!"

Peach smirked, stepping back to join the others before throwing a charming smile back to the frazzled Mario brother and practically singing, "Hasn't it, Count Luigi?"

Luigi lost it. In an instant, his Final Smash activated and he got to his feet, encircled by a dark bubble of energy as he did his strange, exotic dance. Only a few unfortunate Smashers were touched by the energy field, but all that happened to them was that they fell down, fast asleep, for the entire length of the dance. The others prepared to sing Luigi's praises as they saw the bars of their cell jiggled back and forth like a blob of jelly, but as soon as the bubble of black magic began to shrink and Luigi stopped dancing, the bars returned to their previous state, and, after being tested by a powerful punch from Donkey Kong, they remained perfectly intact. Luigi's Final Smash hadn't been enough, after all.

The Smashers shared a sign of defeat. "At least you tried," Pit said dejectedly as Luigi sat back down and moaned miserably. The angel turned to look at Mr. Game and Watch, and he was about to ask if he was ready to attempt his Final Smash when the door leading from the hallway to the dungeon swung open and one of the minions designed to look like Diabolus Angelus in her original form came waltzing in. The Smashers who'd been contained for a while noticed that, unlike when one of the minions usually came in, this one wasn't carrying food for them.

That wasn't a very promising sign.

The minion's bright red eyes scanned the prisoners carefully, and for a moment they wondered if she somehow knew about their attempt to escape. If she did, then it seemed that wasn't what she came for; her eyes came to rest on Zelda, who was standing defensively in front of the injured Shigeru and Pit. The minion smiled, seeming pleased with her find, "Hmm… so you're the magic user." The minion lifted her arm, and, with just a small flick of her wrist, she magically pulled Zelda to the bars with a startled yelp as she grabbed the princess by the arm and examined her more closely. "Ah ha. I get it. You're the princess with the Triforce piece they warned me about. Well, it's your lucky day, princess. You've just won the grand prize."

"G-Grand prize?"

"A nice, long kiss from the man of your dreams."

"Hmph. If by winning a kiss, you actually mean getting my energy sucked dry by your master, I'd rather pass."

"Aww, even though it'll technically be Linky-kins kissing you? You know you've always wanted that." Zelda flinched, and the minion took the opportunity and magically pulled Zelda right through the bars and bound the princess's hands behind her back.

"Zelda!" Toon Link screamed and staggered to his feet. However, it was Samus who reached the bars separating the Smashers from Zelda first, putting all her effort into grabbing some part of Zelda's clothing and pulling her back toward them. The minion pulled the princess back just short of Samus's reach and began dragging her toward the door-and her doom.

Pit ground his teeth together in frustration, and, using the Master Sword like a crutch, fought the fatigue still hampering his movements and limped to the edge of the cell. He lifted the Master Sword, humming with energy, and prepared to smash it against the bars in a desperate bid for escape when the princess yelled, "No! Don't worry about me! She probably won't kill me, unless they're after my Triforce piece. You're the only one who can save Link. Save your strength so you can save him." Zelda flashed Pit a small, weak smile before her captor yanked her through the door and out of sight.

She was gone… and as good as dead.

Pit collapsed to his knees, tossed the Master Sword to the ground, and helplessly pried at the bars. Why was all this happening? Why did Link have to be possessed? Why did Zelda have to die? Why were the others so helpless to save her? There were only a few hours left to save Link, and Pit was being forced to waste them in a prison why Diabolus Angelus took another victim, as well. Not to mention, Pit had yet to meet this supposed aid who was coming to help him. If there was ever a time for him or her to appear, it was now!

"P-Pit…?" The angel glanced back at Toon Link, who had big tears in his eyes and terror written all over his face. Toon Link lowered his gaze and Pit's eyes followed, seeing first his own Master Sword glowing brighter than ever before, then Toon Link's right had pressed tightly over the back of his left hand. The child lifted his right hand away, revealing his Triforce of Courage was also emitting an unusually high amount of light. "What's going on?" The angel blanched, remembering that both the Master Sword and Toon Link's Triforce piece had been signals that let them see how Link's life force was holding up against Diabolus Angelus. If both were glowing like this, what exactly did that stand for? Was Link fighting her off… or was this a boost to her power thanks to Zelda's energy?

Pit soon discovered that it was definitely not the latter; several shrill screams echoed through the hallways and reached the Smashers' ears, followed by a series of loud explosions as a giant, black dust cloud filtered into the room. At that moment, one of the minions, different from the one that had taken Zelda away, came running into the room and looked all of the Smashers over with large, frenzied eyes. "You're… all still here?" she screamed as she reached through the bars and grabbed Pit by the hair to see if the truth was somehow hidden in his eyes.

"Yes. Other than our friend that your bosses so kindly asked for."

"No… No! You were all brought together… We double checked for her… So how is it possible for one of you to be-" The new minion never got to finish her thought; a bright flash of light engulfed her entire body, and, with one final, ear-splitting wail her body turned to dust, leaving only her rather skimpy clothes. Pit gasped, more than a little startled to see a man his height or so standing just behind the pile of clothes. He took in every detail of this supposed ally carefully, though there wasn't much about him; from his head down to his knees he was covered over by a long, brown cloak. His boots and the gloves on his hands were the same color, and, peeking out form the darkness of his hood were a pair of glowing green eyes. Most surprising of all, however, was the unconscious form of Princess Zelda slung carefully over his left shoulder, the binds on her hands undone.

The supposed ally turned his glowing green eyes to Pit, and the angel flinched out of reflex, although his fears about this newcomer were put to rest as a surprisingly familiar and gentle voice said, "Step back. I need to blow a hole through the bars." The angel grabbed the Master Sword and Samus helped him back away while the newcomer put his right hand to the bars and, instantly, another bright flash of light lit his hand and caused the entire front side of the cell to dissolve into a black mist and vanish. It wasn't very surprising that an alarm was triggered by the destruction of the cell, but everyone was too happy to be meeting their savior to care. In fact, it seemed only he was keeping his wits about him as he shifted Zelda off of his shoulder and into his arms, turning his head toward the door. "We need to hurry. Donkey Kong, carry Pit and Shigeru. Captain Falcon, you handle Popo, and, Snake, you take care of Toonie. Your weapons are being kept in a room on the second floor, so there's no time to get them now. We can come back for them later. Let's go."

"Pit squeaked as he was lifted over Donkey Kong's shoulder why Shigeru only moaned, not opening his eyes. The angel glanced over at Toon Link as Snake lifted him as gently as he could manage, and he realized that the look of disbelief on the child's face was most likely a perfect match for his. Maybe the others hadn't noticed, but the last time Pit had checked, there was only one person in the world who called Toon Link "Toonie," and he was currently possessed by an unspeakably evil spirit.

When the group was ready, their mysterious leader first lifted one hand to reveal a glowing green orb that floated into the air and hovered just over the destroyed cell, then he lead them out the door and down a series of hallways as quickly as possible toward the exit. Those Smashers who were still capable of hand-to-hand combat fought off the few minions who dared to stand in their way until their new ally finally made a right turn leading to a long corridor and a clear view of the black Evil Realm sky. The group picked up speed, not in the least bit worried about the irony that they were all so eager to return to that bleak wasteland, and everything went smoothly until one final minion came up behind them wielding a bow.

"You won't get away that easily!" she screamed, readying an arrow and aiming for the mysterious man responsible for the loss of her master's food supply. Only Toon Link, with his sensitive Hylian ears, heard the arrow whizzing through the air, but he only managed to cry out a quick "Look out!" before it connected with their savior's right shoulder, obviously digging in rather deep as he stumbled to his knees and unceremoniously dropped Zelda to the ground. He turned toward the minion who'd attacked him, pulling out a rather strange device shaped like a mouse and putting it to the ground. It scurried to the minion at the entrance to Ganondorf's tower and exploded, destroying her as well as the entrance to prevent any further attacks.

Amazingly enough, the mysterious hero lifted Zelda again and continued on without the slightest hint that he was in pain, leading the group further through the wasteland until they finally came to the coffin and gravestone left behind by the Creature. This was where the group stopped to rest, Donkey Kong lowering Shigeru and Pit to the ground while Snake and Captain Falcon placed Toon Link and Popo back on their feet. That was when the man- aid, hero, apparition, or whatever he really was- lowered Zelda to the ground and reached behind him, pulling the arrow out with an ease that actually made Pit feel a little sick as he struggled to his feet to meet his aid face-to-face and properly thank him. It was a lucky accident that made the aid rip part of his robe with the arrow as he pulled it away, revealing that there was no trace of a wound on his body… and the color of the garment he was wearing beneath the robe.

Pit inhaled sharply, his eyes filling with tears as he watched his aid turn his head to look at the fabric and, with a small chuckle, mutter, "That didn't last long." It seemed that the small rip had broken some sort of spell the aid had cast on his cloak; as he reached up toward the tiny gash, it was suddenly revealed that his regular brown gloves were, in fact, brown gauntlets with the fingers left uncovered. The aid wrapped his slender, tan fingers around the cloak and ripped it off in a single, fluid motion, and every Smasher nearly had a heart attack as they finally saw his clothes: a green tunic, fitted carefully over a white shirt and tights and two belts, one wrapped around his waist while the other, across his back, carried a large sword and shield.

All that remained of the aid's disguise was his hood, but even before it was removed, everyone knew what to expect: a long, floppy green hat falling down his back, long pointed ears with one dark blue hoop earring in each, hints of blond hair sticking out form beneath the cap… and sure enough, that was what they saw as their ally removed the hood. He turned to face his friends, revealing a pair of gentle blue eyes the hue of the ocean at night and a sad smile. Pit collapsed to his knees, holding his head in his right hand as feelings of joy, confusion, and disbelief all overwhelmed him in equal amounts.

Link walked over and knelt beside him, putting a hand on his shoulder and saying, with just a hint of sarcasm in his voice, "I told you I'd see you soon, didn't I?"

**To Be Continued**

**Pit: (distractedly) Um… Flock claims no ownership over the Super Smash Bros. series. Only this idea… This weird, trippy, unusual idea. Seriously, Link is the aid Lady Palutena sent me? How does **_**that**_** work?**

**Me: Quick, pan to me! Oooohkay! About this chapter! Wow, did it ever come through fast! It's been less that two weeks since my last post, even, but somehow, I got an even longer chapter done in about a tenth of the time. Maybe it's just because I typed part of this chapter long in advance and I've been dreaming about revealing the aid's big secret identity for ages now, so I was eager to write it all out. Actually, I had to retype the whole thing onto my uncle's computer (I'm babysitting his pets right now… maybe I should consider a career involving pets. I do love the furry angels… especially the memory of the one in my avatar.) It only took a few hours, though, so I'm fairly happy with it. Sorry about any mistakes! I have no clue how this will look when I upload it, since this is a program different from the one I usually use.**

**By the way, I've seriously been considering that Luigi is a vampire ever since I wrote my own take on the L is real 2401 "conspiracy" (for the record, I know the real meaning behind it). I turned on "Luigi's Mansion" and had him wandering through the house, so now I have this image of him standing on the balcony wearing a long, green cape and staring up at the full moon stuck in my head. Oh, and FYI, Luigi does **_**not**_** sparkle. The only man who should ever sparkle is Alex Louis Armstrong (a billion slices of dessert pizza to everyone who knows who that it. A billion more to anyone who knows where the line "You have to be a Dracula to give birth to a Dracula" came from.)**

**So, with the promise of deliciousness taken care of, onto the few review replies I have to make thanks to the super short wait between chapters:**

**EggplantWitch: I'm sorry I confused you with my long wait between chapters! I tried to rewrite a few details into this story to help with such questions as "Who's that again? How did they end up there?" so I hope this chapter is a little less confusing. As for the Pit/Roy thing, I'll do my best to get that cleared up next chapter, so look forward to it. Now, for my favorite part: Whaaa? I'm not evil! Okay, I'm a sadist with gore constantly on my mind and I'm prone to fits of delirium, but I'm not evil! I'm also not sexy, but I was talking about Link when I wrote that part, and with Pit supposedly being a lefty, it seems that a club of cute left-handed Smashers has just opened up, although you make a valid point when you talk about righties using their left-hands for sports and vice versa (the Wii taught me to swing a sword right-handed better than I do left-handed). So I guess we'll just have to hope "Uprising" randomly has a scene of Pit signing something to get the issue officially resolved as to which hand Pit uses.**

**Captain Black Knight: How **_**is**_** Pit not dead? Hmm…Hold that thought. (Flock gets up and walks away. From another room you hear Pit say "Huh? Oh, hi, Crystal! Now that we've got the latest chapter done, me and Link are going out for wi-" There's a gunshot, followed by silence before Flock returns and sits back down, carefully hiding the .357 she just used to assassinate one of her characters.) Where was I? Oh yes! Well, at least the wait for this chapter wasn't long, and I'm hoping you're happy with the fact that the others are actually alive and well. Now, I just have to type the explanation for how Link can be possessed yet still be the aid, and then we can get onto the part where Link and Pit save, er… Link, I guess. Maybe there are too many Links wandering around now… (At that moment Link pokes his head into the room and says rather worriedly, "Hey, have you seen Pit? We were supposed to meet up for wings when this chapter was finished- Why are you holding a gun?") Poor Link…**

**Donna: Hi! Thanks for the heads up about the last chapter duplicating on me. I have no idea why it did that, unless I hit Ctrl V twice when I moved it from my spell checker to the program I use for the actual uploading. Anyways…Yay! Someone showing some love for Pit! Although, now I find myself feeling guilty for torturing him so much…but that's mostly over now, so he should be safe until the big fight with Ganondorf and Diabolus Angelus. I'll be sure to keep an eye out for any reviews from riverraiden without going "Wait…What happened to Donna?"**

**And, done! All right, read and review, and I'll get the next chapter up ASAP (but probably not in just twelve days). Ooh, and bonus! It'll be a double update, so look forward to that! Now, there's just one problem… Knowing my luck, my computer will explode just because next up is (shudders) chapter ****fourteen****. Ew, that number makes my skin crawl in a bad way!**


	14. Chapter 14

Golden blond hair. Marine blue eyes. A deep forest green tunic. Was this honestly happening, or was this another of Ganondorf's mirages?

"Sempai!" Toon Link practically cried before he ran to the older hero. He embraced Link's waist tightly, crying into his tunic and yelling his name over and over again.

Link slowly returned the hug, whispering softly, "It's okay, Toonie. I'm here now...somewhat."

"Somewhat?" Pit narrowed his eyes and lifted the Master Sword to his supposed aid's throat. He was sick of putting up with illusions and lies; if this wasn't really Link, he would cut him down where he stood before he did anything to put their lives in any further danger. "Who are you? Really?"

Link smiled and gently pried Toon Link off before turning to face the angel. Now that Toon Link was taking a better look at him, he realized Link looked a little off; not only were his hair and tunic darker, but his tunic was completely devoid of stitching, he had no chain mail beneath his tunic, his boots were different, he was wearing gauntlets again (since Link's were taken by Madame Clairvoya in Luigi's Mansion), and his hair was parted down the middle instead of on the right. "You already know the answer, Pit."

"I know who you want me to think you are, but that doesn't prove anything." Pit hissed.

"That's true," Link sighed, though he didn't look the least bit concerned, "so why don't we cut to the part where I show you the only irrefutable proof that I'm the real thing?" Before Pit could ask what this supposed evidence was, Link had already reached out and put his left hand on the blade pointed at his throat. It glowed just as it had whenever a monster touched it, but rather than repel Link, it actually seemed more ready to repel Pit so that it could return to its proper master. Out of the corner of his eye, Pit also saw that the Triforce symbol on the back of Toon Link's hand was glowing just as brilliantly as the Master Sword, as was the Triforce on Zelda's hand, though she still wasn't awake to see it.

Link was right; this was all the evidence he needed to prove his identity to the others. Once again, Pit felt an overwhelming sense of joy well up within him, but at the same time, several new questions popped into his head. How was Link able to be here? Did this mean he'd somehow exorcized the evil spirit out of his body on his own? Did Ganondorf still need to be defeated?

Before Pit got the chance to fire off all of his questions at the Hylian, Link lifted his hand away from the Master Sword and got back on his feet, offering a hand to the angel to assist him back up. "I...should probably make this perfectly clear before anyone gets the wrong impression. It's true that I have all of Link's memories up until his possession, but I'm actually part of his soul," Link paused for a second, thinking over what he'd just said before correcting himself, "Well, a majority of his soul. And, although we're still connected by our shared soul, I'm technically an entirely different person from him, just like Toon Link. What's left of the Link you know is still under Diabolus Angelus's control, unfortunately."

"So, you share the same soul as Link, but you're not him? Since you compared yourself to Toon Link, does that make you a reincarnation of Link, too?"

Link smiled sadly, "The exact opposite, actually."

Pit was completely confused, but beside him, Toon Link's eyes widened and he muttered under his breath, "Holy Goddesses..."

At that moment, a soft groan floated over the desolate wasteland and everyone turned to see that Zelda was finally regaining consciousness, momentarily deflecting attention away from Link. The princess had managed to lift herself into a sitting position with her legs folded beneath her, and she was holding the back of her head and squinting as if she were in terrible pain. She opened her eyes when she heard the rustle of fabric and found herself fully surrounded by her friends, in spite of the fact that her last memory before she was knocked out was being forced apart from them so her energy could be a snack for Diabolus Angelus. She wondered if the confusion she was feeling was anything like what Nana had felt when she first regained control of her body with no memory of what had happened. She was even more confused when she realized that they were back in the field where they'd been captured.

Her eyes fell on Pit, who looked marginally happier than he had since Link's possession, but she barely opened her mouth to ask what had happened before she winced and doubled over, holding the back of her head as a fresh wave of pain washed over her. Mario was behind her in an instant, carefully combing through her hair with his hands until he found the source of the princess's pain, a rather large wound from some kind of bludgeon. Apparently, the minion hadn't much cared for Zelda's calm demeanor in the face of danger...or maybe the princess had decided to fight back as soon as she was out of that room so she could go back and free her friends and the minion struck her to halt her efforts. Whatever the reason, Zelda had been injured by her captor, but between treating Popo, Shigeru, and Pit and rewrapping Toon Link's bandages, Mario had exhausted all of the medical supplies he and Peach had brought. Luckily, Mario knew for a fact that the group had a formidable alternative to modern medicine they could use now that they weren't confined to a small dungeon.

"Hey, Satoshi," Mario muttered softly, waving the Pokemon Trainer over to join him, "did they take away your Poke Balls when you were captured?"

"I don't know. Hang on a sec," Satoshi reached into his pocket, producing all five of the Poke Balls he'd gotten from his friend back in Kanto.

"Great. Can you summon that Pokemon you used on Toon Link and Pit?"

"Manaphy? Of course," Somehow, in spite of the fact that all five Poke Balls looked exactly the same to Mario, Satoshi picked out one, threw it to the ground, and summoned the babyblue healer back out. "Manaphy, would you be able to heal everyone at once?" Manaphy chirped its own name in a happy tone, and Satoshi beckoned Pit and Popo over and got Ike to carry Shigeru to them.

"Okay, now Princess Zelda just needs to play the ocarina, and we'll be all set."

"I can't," Zelda said bluntly, "I don't know why, but that bitch took it." A few Smashers had to hold back their laughter at the princess's surprisingly vulgar language, but most of them hung their heads in defeat. They'd hoped they could at least send Pit, the only one of them properly equipped for fighting Diabolus Angelus, into battle at full strength, but if they couldn't summon the water Manaphy needed to use Hydration...

"I'll take care of it," Link said quietly, producing his own ocarina from the pocket inside his tunic. Pit recognized it immediately as the ocarina Link had used to heal him in his dream, and it finally dawned on him that the Link from his near-death dream and his nightmare the night before and the Link standing before him now were exactly the same.

Zelda glanced over when she heard that surprisingly familiar voice, understandably shocked when she realized it was Link. However, when he turned to look at her and their eyes briefly met, Zelda instantly recognized who he really was, and, in an uncanny coincidence, she muttered, just as Toon Link had only moments before, "Holy Goddesses..."

For the moment, Link chose to ignore her and play 'The Song of Storms' on his ocarina, summoning a rather violent thunderstorm compared to the two Zelda had summoned while Satoshi ordered Manaphy to use Hydration on the four injured warriors. All four were completely healed and back to full power in a matter of seconds, and Link actually had to play the song again before the storm stopped and Manaphy returned to its Poke Ball. Shigeru opened his eyes for the first time since Diabolus Angelus captured him and looked around, quickly met by an unexpected and somewhat painful glomp from Satoshi, which basically mirrored the glomp Popo got from Nana when she reached him. Zelda sighed in relief, glad that the terrible pain in her head was gone so that she could think more clearly, and Pit shyly turned away from the others, undoing the bandages around his chest away from the prying fangirl eyes of the female Smashers to find that even the wound that had proven fatal during his battle was completely gone before he redid the bandages and turned back to Link.

What he saw rather surprised him; Zelda had gotten to her feet and crossed the short distance separating her from Link, and now it appeared that they were regarding each other with awe. Something in Zelda's eyes reminded Pit of the sparkle of admiration Toon Link's had held when he first met Link during the Subspace Emissary, but in Link's eyes there appeared some sort of sorrow and...maybe pride?

Zelda was the first one to break the silence, muttering to herself, half in disbelief, half with respect, "You're... the Hero of Time."

In that barren wasteland, even a small whisper could echo for miles, and all of the Smashers heard the princess. Most of them didn't understand what she was talking about, but Toon Link and Pit understood her perfectly. The green clad chibi appeared elated that his own theory of this other Link's identity was shared by someone else, but Pit was simply in shock. This guy, who looked almost exactly like the Link he already knew, was the legendary Hero of Time who seemed to be a respected and perhaps mythic presence in Hyrulian folklore? This was the man whose tales of heroism were apparently part of some epic poem passed down through generations of Hylians so that even Toon Link, born at least two centuries after his time, knew who he was? The stories about this man were apparently so long that it would have taken Link days to recount them all to Pit (assuming he hadn't been exaggerating, of course), and so it was that very same man, this legend, who was going to help Pit in his battle with Ganondorf and Diabolus Angelus? Seriously?

The only words that would form on Pit's tongue were actually directed at Zelda rather than Link. Pit wasn't sure he was ready to talk to him again after that startling revelation, "He's the Hero of Time? Him? Are you sure?"

"Yes. There are some drawings my grandmother made of the Hero of Time in the castle. Her drawings match up perfectly with him."

"Couldn't that just be a coincidence? I mean, change just a few details, and he looks exactly like our Link. What if she made some oversight, and-"

"I think my grandmother would know more about what my grandfather looked like than anyone else, Pit!" Zelda snapped back. There was that rarely seen temper of hers again, and there was a new piece of information: Zelda's grandfather was, apparently, the Hero of Time, who'd been reincarnated as Link, the Hero of Twilight, who Zelda... has a crush on? That was vaguely creepy. Pit's head was starting to hurt as he tried to sort the barrage of information he'd been constantly receiving since Link had rescued them. And were they still supposed to call him "Link"? If Toon Link had a nickname to differentiate him from the other Link, it made sense that the Hero of Time would get a nickname, too... or would their Link get the nickname, since the Hero of Time was above him in the reincarnation cycle? Pit's head throbbed again.

"Okay, that's enough!" Pit shouted, more at himself than anyone else. It was time to get some answers. Real answers. Enough beating around the bush. "Now, let me see if I have this right. You," Pit pointed at Link, "are seriously the Hero of Time, right? Princess Zelda isn't mistaken or anything?"

"No, she's right," Link answered bluntly.

"Great. So, how does it work out that you're here? Did the Triforce of Courage bring you here like it did Toon Link, or...?" Pit trailed off, gesturing frantically with his hands for an answer.

"It was the Master Sword, actually. You saw it yourself. When Diabolus Angelus tried to use it to kill you, there was a spiral of magic that left the sword and entered her body. That was actually a security measure the goddesses had added to the sword in case their Chosen Hero ever turned evil, either of his own free will or through magic."

"Of course they did," Pit sighed. Part of him didn't believe it, but based on some of the unusual things his own Goddess had done in the past to help him, he wasn't all that surprised that the Goddesses of Hyrule would try to ensure that their Chosen Hero wouldn't turn evil. "I take it that magic was you?"

"In a way, yes. I'm not completely sure how it all works myself, but from what I understand, the sword senses the evil in its wielder and sends magic into his body to pull out his soul, so that it isn't tainted by evil. That was actually all that was supposed to happen to Link, but Palutena left part of our soul with Link and gave the rest a body so that I could help fight off the evil spirit in him. If it wasn't for her, Link would have become a lost cause a long time ago; the original plan of the goddesses was to have our soul recycled immediately to prevent its misuse."

"When you say 'recycled', I take it you actually mean-"

"-Reincarnated, as a new hero. Link's body would already belong entirely to Diabolus Angelus, and there'd be no way to save him."

So, if Palutena hadn't intervened, there would have been no way to save Link, and the world might have already fallen under Ganondorf's control. Pit silently thanked his Goddess for her meddling. "So, just to make sure that I have this right, Link's soul is currently divided between his body and yours because Lady Palutena decided to bring the legendary Hero of Time back from the dead to save his reincarnation. Do I have that right? Because if I don't, you're going to have to explain it better."

"No, you've pretty much got it."

"Oh, thank goodness..." Pit sighed, "In that case, there's just one final hole in the story," Pit paused when he saw the others lean in expectantly. He was sure they knew what he was about to ask the legendary hero, "You were the one I saw in that weird dream when I was dead, right? You promised me answers, so you'd better make it perfectly clear to me why you called me Roy and why the others seem to remember him, whoever he was!"

"Ah, yes. I was wondering when you'd bring that up," Link sighed, running a hand slowly through his hair before approaching the angel again. Like their Link, the Hero of Time was the same height as Pit, so Pit got a perfect view of Link's piercing blue eyes as he grabbed both of the angel's shoulders. "You have no idea how long I've been waiting to do this."

"Wh-What?" Pit didn't have to wait long for an answer. A second after Pit stuttered out his question, Link kneed him as hard as he could in the stomach, then, while the angel was doubled over in pain, Link lifted his left arm and brought his elbow down on Pit's back, causing him to fall to the ground. He gasped as he felt the cold steel of the Master Sword against the back of his neck, and his blood ran cold when he realized that he hadn't heard nor felt Link drawing the sword from the sheath on Pit's back. It was no wonder the Hero of Time was legendary; he was obviously a master swordsman.

"Sempai!" Toon Link screamed, moving as quickly as he could to stop his idol before he killed their only hope to save Link. His efforts were wasted, though not in a bad way. Before he reached Link, the Hylian himself pulled the sword away, pulled Pit back to his feet, and handed him back the Master Sword. Pit shook violently as he accepted the blade, the knowledge that Link could have easily killed him with a single blow filling him with both fear and hope.

"That," Link hissed through gritted teeth, "is for killing me."

"K-Killing you?" Pit's eyes widened as his vivid nightmare flashed quickly through his mind, followed immediately by his awkward conversation with Marth where they discussed the fact that Marth held his own memory of Pit's nightmare. Apparently, it had been a real event. "That actually happened...?" The look on Link's face was all the confirmation Pit needed. It didn't all add up, though. For the Hero of Time to be Zelda's grandfather, that meant he had to have lived, at minimum, over forty years earlier. However, Marth, who was only seventeen, and Pit, who was only sixteen, had memories of watching the Hero of Time's death. How did that work?

"This is all pretty confusing for you, isn't it?" Link said with an understanding, sympathetic smile. Pit found the gesture to be rather ironic, coming from someone who'd just tried to kill him. "Well, the explanation actually isn't all that complicated. You remember Master Hand, that giant hand you found right before Tabuu had you all trophicated, right? The truth is, he was the one behind the Subspace Emissary, and his ultimate goal was to gather all of you back together for a fighting tournament until Tabuu meddled and put everyone in danger."

"When you say he was gathering us back together, are you implying-"

"He's gathered you together before. Twice, actually. Well, okay, not everyone was together for both tournaments. The number of participants grows each time, and this last time, a few fighters were swapped out for some more skilled newbies, but the fact remains that Master Hand was trying to start a new iteration of the tournament, and that's why you were all gathered in the World of Trophies."

"Oh really?" Pit said sarcastically as he crossed his arms over his chest. Part of him didn't believe a word Link was saying, but at the same time, the idea of being brought to another world by an omnipotent, disembodied hand to fight in a tournament seemed strangely familiar. "And, assuming I believe you, what exactly is the name of this supposed tournament?"

Link opened his mouth to answer but, oddly enough, Snake beat him to the punch, muttering, "It's Super Smash Bros., right? That would explain why the colonel said I was invited to join, but then there wasn't any actual 'tournament'."

"Super Smash Bros. ..." Pit felt a shiver go up his spine as he flashed back to his near-death dream, the memories he'd gained before Link helped him recover his real memories coming back to him. Hadn't he said that he was in the training room at the Super Smash Bros. Melee tournament? Did that mean Melee was some sort of tag at the end to differentiate one tournament from another? Pit glanced at the others, finding that the same few who'd thought that the name Roy sounded familiar- Mario, Donkey Kong, Samus, Luigi, Kirby, Marth, Peach, Zelda, Fox, Falco, Ness, Yoshi, Captain Falcon, the Ice Climbers, and Mr. Game and Watch- looked as freaked out by a sense of deja vu as he felt. "So those dreams I had were real."

"Just like Link's were," Link said with a small nod. "When you were at the castle, he saw part of a battle I was fighting with Young Link. He was afraid to tell you because you were already worried about him after that 'heart attack' he had, which, FYI, wasn't a heart attack. Ganondorf attacked him when he saw that Link had started to catch on to the fact that he was involved in the Rabbids' attack."

"Oops...Guess you were right to worry, Pit. Sorry," Ike muttered, clearly remembering that he'd snapped at Pit for questioning his diagnosis when he let Link leave Hyrule Castle after the attack.

"That's okay," Pit answered weakly. He was still reeling from all the information Link had given him.; he was hardly concerned about an argument he'd had with Ike a day ago when he was faced with the sudden realization that he was apparently a murderer in a past life, and that it was supposedly destiny that had brought all the Smashers together.

And who exactly was Young Link? Another Link? Was he going to show up, too? At this rate, all the Links that had ever existed and would eventually exist would gather together in the Evil Realm long before Pit faced off against Diabolus Angelus. They could throw a celebratory Link exclusive rave when this was all over.

"Um, Pit?" Link said, holding the bridge of his nose with his index finger and thumb. "You should probably know... You have a slight tendency to think out loud when you're stressed about something. You did it a lot on the Halberd, too. But a Link exclusive rave? Really?"

"Uhh..." Pit's face turned a light shade of pink, and he could hear the others trying to contain their laughter. Why hadn't any of the others told him that before? What kind of horrible things had he blurted out without realizing it?

"But to answer your only decent question, Young Link was, as his name implies, a younger version of me. Just like Toonie, he was chosen to participate in the tournament despite the obvious fact that having more than one Link in a particular moment in time could seriously screw with the fabric of space and time. Peach decided to call him 'Young Link' so that there wouldn't be any confusion about which Link someone was trying to address, just like she decided to give Toon Link his nickname. And just like with Toonie, I ended up calling him Rinku-kun instead."

"Rinku-kun?" Pit heard Peach whisper to Zelda.

"It's the Japanese way of saying 'Link,' since the letter 'L' doesn't exist in Japanese, an 'R' is substituted in instead. The '-kun' at the end is a Japanese honorific used when addressing someone either younger than yourself or someone in the same class as you at school, usually a boy."

"Oh...Cute!" Peach made a mental note of that to use later.

Link smiled, "That's what you said when I had to explain it to you during the Melee tournament. At least you're consistent."

"How exactly does that work, though?" Marth asked suddenly, "I mean, if he was you when you were a kid, wouldn't any injuries he'd sustain carry over to you?"

"Typically, no, actually. I don't know what sort of technology Master Hand was using, but most of the time, the damage we sustained was actually simulated in the battles by a damage gauge, so the higher the damage, the easier we were to knock out. It was only during battles that we instigated outside of the rules that the damage was real. Pit knows; Roy took on the toughest challenge we had available without asking Master Hand for permission first. Mario had to use an emergency shut-off switch to end the battle while I covered for Roy in the Training Room. We really should have seen it as a warning of things to come..."

"I-I'm sorry..." Pit murmured quietly. He didn't know why, but he felt himself teetering on the verge of tears as guilt suddenly began eating at him. Was it just residual guilt from his past life coming back to haunt him? Or was it his own guilt for knowing that he was still charged with the burden of having to fight and possibly kill Link?

"Hey," Pit jumped when he realized Link had stepped closer to him and was looking him straight in the eyes, "don't cry, okay? I'm sorry if it sounds like I'm trying to make you out to be the bad guy in this. You were a victim, too."

"So what...exactly happened? I know from that dream that somehow I killed both Young Link and you, but I couldn't find out any details."

"Young Link wanted to do a practice duel with you before the battles started for the day. There wasn't much time left, and getting clearance from Master Hand to use the Training Room would have taken too long, so you both snuck in. As I already explained, without Master Hand, there was nothing to keep either of you from sustaining real injuries during your fight, but I think...even if Master Hand had allowed the fight, Young Link's wound would have been fatal," Pit flinched when he saw Link clench his hand into a fist, sure that he was about to get decked. Instead, Link stared down at the ground, and continued softly, as if it hurt him to recall the details, "You stabbed him... in the chest; accidentally, of course. I didn't see it happen myself, so I don't know all the details. I was wandering around with Zelda when the pain struck me, too. We found the others crowded around the Training Room, and when we got there, we found you trying to give Young Link CPR. You kept crying that you were sorry. I'd never felt so pissed at someone before in my entire life. I grabbed you by the collar to punch you in the face, and then...I just suddenly died, too. With Young Link dead, the seven years I'd lived after him were erased, so I technically didn't exist anymore. You know what happened after that..."

"Roy killed himself to repent for killing you and was reincarnated as me, while you were reincarnated as our Link and your Zelda became our Zelda's grandmother," Pit answered. "That doesn't explain the others, though. How is it they couldn't remember what happened, but they're still continuing on with the same lives they had when it happened?"

"Master Hand did that. He sent them home with their memories of the tournament repressed, although some details slipped through the cracks. My rivalry with Marth, for instance. As for the fact that Zelda is the granddaughter of the original Zelda, but the others have only aged a few years, time moves differently in Hyrule and Skyworld than it does everywhere else. A day in Hyrule is worth only about twenty minutes anywhere else, and a day in Skyworld is worth a month everywhere else. You're sixteen according to Skyworld, Pit, but if you'd been born in any other part of the world, you'd already be several centuries old. It's only thanks to Skyworld that you could exist in the right era to meet Link."

"That explains a lot, actually," Pit said with a slight nod. Like why Palutena had sent him to check on the others only four days after the Subspace Emissary. Four months made a lot more sense. "Why did we start to remember all this stuff now, though? Why didn't we remember the other tournament when we first met during the Subspace Emissary?"

"Well," Link shrugged nonchalantly, making the sting of his words that much worse, "if I had to guess, I'd say you both started to remember the past because it seems ready to repeat itself. In less than three hours, you'll have to fight Link and strike him in the chest with an arrow. If you don't kill him, we won't be able to force Diabolus Angelus out of his body, and she'll kill him for you. No matter what we do, Link will die today, but at least if you're the one who kills him, we'll be able to revive him."

"Right," Pit whispered as he turned his gaze toward Ganondorf's infernal temple. Now that he knew for sure that his dream had been reality and that he'd inadvertently killed two people in his past life, the thought of fighting and ultimately killing Link made him feel twice as sick as it had before, but given the alternative, he knew that he had to do it. "I'll...need to get the Holy Arrow and Link's bow back before we do anything else, though. You said before that all our weapons are being stored in a room on the second floor of the temple, right? How many other floors do we need to fight our way through to get there?"

"If you're really planning on fighting your way through? Far too many. The halls are crawling with guards. I only made it far enough to find out where your weapons were thanks to one of the old Cloaking Devices I still had left over from the Melee tournament. It has a time limit, though, so as soon as it wore off, I had to fight my way through the last floor before the dungeon. If I hadn't been using the Garo's Mask, I could have just hidden myself with the Stone Mask, but I figured it was better to keep my identity hidden from Ganondorf rather than announce that I was back from the grave. As you're no doubt aware, he seriously hates me. I can use the Stone Mask this time, but I don't know how to get everyone else through without being spotted. Thanks to the protective barriers Ganondorf had put around the temple, I could only use Farore's Wind to leave a warp point back inside in the dungeon room, so we'd have to make our way up the entire temple from the ground level. Even just one of you would probably be easily detected."

"Uh, Rinku..." Peach paused, unsure what honorific to attach to her sudden nickname for the Hero of Time. She decided Rinku was fine as it was; at least this way they wouldn't have to keep clarifying which "Link" they were talking about. She continued, undeterred, "Rinku, can I make a suggestion? I picked this up while we were making our escape. Maybe one of us can use it..." Peach reached behind her back and produced a stolen copy of the minions' skimpy uniform. Judging by the dust covering it in light splotches, it was the outfit worn by the minion Link had vaporized right before their very eyes just before he helped them escape.

"Ah! Peachy, that's genius!" Zelda said, stepping up to inspect the black uniform. "One of us can dress up like one of the minions and sneak through to the weapons vault unnoticed."

"Don't the minions have red eyes, though?" Pit said, clearly remembering the numerous uncomfortable moments he'd been forced to make eye contact with one of them.

"That's not a problem. Zelda makes her eyes red all the time when she turns into Sheik. I'm sure making someone else's eyes red would be a synch."

Zelda nodded eagerly in agreement. "And I brought some makeup with me, so if we needed to, we could even dress up one of the guys as the perfect lady!"

"What?" Pit inadvertently yelped, immediately regretting it when Zelda, Peach, and, surprisingly, Samus all turned on him with eerie, mirthless grins on their faces.

"Come to think of it, don't the minions also have shoulder length brown hair?"

"Why, yes, Sammy, I believe they do. They were also a little on the short side, with somewhat developed muscles but nothing near as big as Ike's or Captain Falcon's..."

"If we tighten the corset just enough, he'll get plenty of cleavage...and it'd be the perfect place to tuck away his wings..."

"No..." Pit's face went white when the last comment made him realize that the ladies were thinking of making him wear that slutty outfit, but he was already boxed in with no way of escaping. "I'm not wearing that! Why not make Marth wear it? He's already a pretty boy... Wouldn't you rather dress him up?"

The ladies completely ignored him, continuing with their examination of his body's high points, "I think he's been looking pretty chilly lately, especially since he gave his toga to Toon Link back in our world. The floor length skirt would fix that right up..."

"His legs are just perfect for knee-high boots!"

"No! No, they aren't!" Pit screamed as Zelda began running her fingers through his hair, assessing how much time it would take to smooth down the unruly locks. The hapless angel turned his most pleading gaze to the other males standing several feet from the defenseless Pit, practically crying, "Guys, do something!"

"No way. Better you than us," Ike said, fighting down his laughter but failing miserably.

Pit glared at the mercenary before turning his attention to Link, who, oddly enough, seemed to have become inexplicably fascinated by a hangnail on his thumb since telling Pit his life's story, "Link, help meeee!"

"No thanks. I'd say this pretty much wraps up my revenge against you for killing me. I should have sicked the girls on you to begin with."

"You kneed me in the gut, elbowed me in the back, and held a sword to my neck! How can your revenge possibly still have loose ends after that?"

"Aw, won't anyone help you out, Pitto-chan? Well, don't worry! When we're done with you, you'll be the prettiest girl between here and Smashville! Guys will be falling all over themselves to please you!" Zelda said as Peach handed her a hairbrush.

"But I don't want to be pretty! I just want to save Link!" But Pit's desperate cry fell on deaf ears as the girls basically attacked him, one final, earsplitting wail of "Nooooo!" filling the gloomy sky before the girls began their vicious attack on the angel's already low masculinity.

**Aww...Poor Pitto-kun, but this is just the tip of the iceberg! It gets even worse next chapter! Read, review, and click the next button for more on Pit's sexy transformation. Mwa ha ha!**


	15. Chapter 15

_**Attention!**_** Once again, this was a double update! If you have reached this point in error, please go back to Chapter 14 and read it first. Also, this chapter contains some material that may be too kinky and/or creepy for those without a rotten mind, as well as terms you may not know without a rotten mind, which are defined at the end of the story. Also, I've decided to start calling the Hero of Time "Rinku" just like Peach to differentiate him from the Link we saw at the beginning of the story. Now, on with the fic!**

_'Why me?'_ Pit thought miserably. Enter an unknown and potentially deadly new realm to save his best friend? No problem! Fight a "fallen angel" version of himself in "The Custom Stage of Death?" Challenging, but he did it. Get caught and thrown in prison, then sneak out? Stupid, but tolerable. But this? This was pushing the limit! Pit blushed bright red as he tried to adjust his new shirt so it would fit him comfortably, only for Peach to slap away his hand and fix it back into place.

"Will you stop fiddling with it? You look hot!"

"Thanks...I think." Pit sighed, glancing down at himself sadly. This had to be the most humiliating thing he had ever done.

What exactly was happening to young Pitto-kun?

"Okay, sweet cheeks, pucker up!" Samus said, stifling an uncharacteristic giggle while Zelda worked on his hair.

Putting it nicely...the make over from Hell.

"Why am I the one doing this? Why couldn't it be Marth? He's the pretty boy...And he doesn't have wings to hide. Better yet, why aren't any of you doing this? You're already girls!"

"Because you were the only one with the right hair for the job. Duh. Now, stop complaining! You're smearing lipstick everywhere!"

Uh huh...the girls were making Pit flaunt his bishonen powers like there was no tomorrow. Pit could just see Link's reaction if he was here to see him...He'd probably be laughing so hard he'd need CPR.

"And finished!" Zelda yelled triumphantly, laughing so hard tears were coming to her eyes. She lifted Peach's compact mirror up so Pit could see how he looked...Even he didn't recognize himself! He was wearing a skin-tight, black corset that actually made it look like he naturally had breasts, black shorts underneath a long black skirt that was cut in half so it only covered his left leg, black combat boots that went up to his knees, and his wings were flattened against his body and hidden by the corset (Pit shivered at the thought of being unable to use his wings again, but he couldn't argue against the fact that his wings would blow his cover otherwise). His eyelashes were coated by mascara, his lips were dark red, he was wearing red contacts courtesy of Sheik, and his hair was brushed down and out so that it went to his shoulders and then spiked in opposite directions. The best way to describe him was an evil version of Yuna from Final Fantasy X-2.

"Ah, Pit, you're so adorable!" Peach commented on the angel's new look, making Pit's self-esteem drop ten notches. All of Pit's fellow Smashers were now at least smirking except, of course, R.O.B. and Mr. Game & Watch.

"All he needs now are these," Snake said, pulling a pair of .357 magnums from out of his belt and putting them in Pit's. Now he looked _exactly_ like a Dark Yuna. All of the male Smashers were now laughing at poor Pit.

_'Grin and bear it...Grin and bear it...' _Pit thought, _'You're doing this for Link...You're doing this for Link...You're doing this for-'_ "Why the hell am I doing this?"

"It's to save a friend, silly! If you don't, Link will stay under Ganondorf's command forever and end up with his soul consumed by Diabolus Angelus. You don't want that, do you?"

"N-No, but...Isn't there another way to get in? The Hero of Time said we used to use these things called Cloaking Devices that made us almost invisible and kept us from taking damage in our past lives. Why don't we use those to-"

"Ah, Pit. Simple, naive, Bunny Honey Pit," Peach said, shaking her head. She walked up beside the holy being, cupped a hand between her mouth and his ear, and whispered darkly, "Come on, we all know there's something more than just friendship between you and Link."

Pit's jaw dropped. "What? Are you insane? Link's my best friend! My heart belongs to Lady Palutena, thank you very much!"

"Really? Then...How do you explain these?" Peach pulled three different pictures from out of her pocket, and Pit turned twenty different shades of red.

They were all pictures of Link and Pit from their time together during the Subspace Emissary. One depicted Pit and Link during their battle when Link thought Pit and Mario had captured Zelda; Link had been hit by Mario, and Pit was hit by Yoshi...Link was lying on one of the platforms, and Pit was still flying through the air. It looked like Pit was holding Link's arm, and Link's shield hid their faces. To any fangirl, it looked like they were kissing. Another picture showed them after Tabuu's defeat lying together in the infirmary; Pit was completely unconscious, yet still crying from the pain, and Link was trying to comfort him despite his own wounds by holding his hand and gently stroking his hair. Another gesture any fujoshi would take the wrong way... The last picture was taken only a few hours before the battle against Tabuu, when the Smashers were trying to sleep before the Great Invasion; Pit and Link had both fallen asleep propped up against one of the walls of the Halberd, and somehow someone (i.e. Peach) had managed to move them so Pit was lying on top of Link with his head against Link's chest and his face turned toward the camera. Link, meanwhile, had his right arm wrapped around Pit, and the most incriminating part, the fingers of Link's left hand were laced with the fingers of Pit's right hand, lying outstretched toward the camera so that Link's face was turned to the camera with his head resting on his arm. Again, yaoi fans would foam at the mouth over this picture.

"Where did you get those?" Pit asked, trying to take them without causing a scene.

"Oh, it doesn't matter where I got them, Pitto-kun. It only matters where they end up. You see, if you refuse to do this, not only is Link going to die, but these pictures are going in every newspaper on the continent...or better yet, Yaoi Gallery, Deviant Art, and your profile pages on Wikipedia and the Smash Bros. website."

Pit gasped in horror, "You wouldn't dare!"

"Try me," Peach replied, saying it as coldy as Samus did when she taunted. "I'll even write up stories to go with them; would you like to be pregnant with 'Lit' or 'Pink?' Ooh, or you could have twins! The LinkxPit fangirls on FanFiction would love that!"

"Please, don't..."

"Then, either flaunt your bishie beauty or live with guilt and humiliation for the rest of eternity!" And Peach grinned here, "What'll it be, Pity?"

Pit sighed deeply, "What do I have to do?"

"Yay, I knew you'd see it my way!" Peach grabbed Pit's shoulder, turning him to the towering temple housing Ganondorf and Link, "It's simple really. You and Rinku are infiltrating the temple. You'll be disguised as one of Ganondorf's underlings, and Rinku will be hidden behind his Stone Mask. You'll find Link, Rinku will do whatever he's got planned to do to him, then you send us the signal and we'll come teach Ganondorf he doesn't mess with us Smashers!"

"What signal?"

"Your Final Smash, assuming you can get angry enough to use it. The Centurions and Palutena will show us where you are so we can come help you, and maybe you'll damage Ganondorf while you're at it."

"What if someone figures out what I'm doing first?"

"That's why Rinku's going; until you reach Link, he'll be your back up. No one can see him as long as he's wearing the Stone Mask except Ganondorf and Link, and hopefully by the time they see him he'll be ready to save Link."

Rinku stepped forward from the group of Smashers, holding up a mask that looked like it was made of rock with eye holes and a mouth hole. He placed it over his face, though he was still visible to the Smashers. Pit hoped it was only so he could keep track of him... "Ready anytime you are," He said quietly, causing Pit to shiver. The Hero of Time, the original Link...This was the man spoken of in all of Hyrule's legends, the man Link and Toon Link idolized, and he was about to fight side-by-side with him.

"Ready," Pit answered, clearing his mind of everything but his determination to save Link and stop Ganondorf.

The Hero of Time grabbed onto Pit's shoulder, lifting out a glowing green crystal Pit recognized as Farore's Wind, and its green light enveloped them and warped them into Ganondorf's Temple.

_**-Diabolus Crystal-**_

Traveling by way of magic without it being through his wings was a new yet enjoyable sensation for Pit. Everything passed by him in one giant, colorful blur, whether it was his friends who had recently been dressing him up, the foreboding walls of Ganondorf's Temple, the hundreds of monsters either of Subspace or from the different worlds the Smashers were from roaming the halls, and finally...the inside of the very prison cell Rinku had helped bust them out of. Pit stumbled as the spell deposited them beneath the glowing warp point Rinku had set up before, and he stopped to catch his breath while his companion walked around to make sure there were no enemies eavesdropping before he spoke.

"I'm afraid this is the closest I could get us to Link without anyone finding the warp point. I can guide you to him, but I can't guarantee how safe we are from capture. Ganondorf and Link can use their Triforce pieces to sense me, just as I can sense them."

"In other words they probably already know we're here."

"Maybe not. As long as we remain in the Evil Realm, they'll only sense the Triforce pieces, but they can't tell how far away they are. For all they know, I've been in the dungeon the entire time. I guess that's another advantage of having several Links from different time lines in the same place, wouldn't you agree?"

Pit slowly nodded and walked to the door leading out of the dungeons, "Until they realize it's you, anyways, and not Toon Link," Pit inspected the door carefully before raising one of his legs and kicking the door down, thus causing a large dust cloud to rise up into the air. "Shall we?"

"After you...Sorry, what was your name again?"

"Pitrius Icarus. Uh...Pit for short."

"Right. Sorry. I keep wanting to call you Roy. You look almost exactly like him."

"It's okay. If it's any consolation, I don't know what I should call you, either."

Rinku smiled, "Peach seems to enjoy calling me Rinku, so you can call me that, too, if calling me Link bothers you."

"Rinku it is, then," Pit paused, mulling over what Rinku had just said about him. He knew it wasn't exactly the time or place to ask but, "Say, if you don't mind telling me, what was I like when I was Roy?"

"You're asking me now of all times?" Rinku sighed but smiled beneath his mask. "Roy was the heir to the throne of Pharae. He was kind, noble, and just, but he was also incredibly rebellious. He also had no idea when it came to love; he was always getting these hints, but he never realized it."

"Really?"

"Yep. Came onto him myself once or twice. He had no clue."

"You what?" First Peach blackmailed him with dirty photos, and now he was learning that her notions that he and Link had a bromance were true in their past lives? Pit was officially scandalized.

"I'm kidding. I was perfectly happy with Zelda. I...I asked her to marry me the day before I was killed. I would have died a happy man if Young Link hadn't died just before I did," Rinku glanced away for a moment before turning to the door with renewed resolve. "The longer we stand here reminiscing about the past, the weaker Link is getting. Let's go."

Pit dazedly nodded as he followed Rinku out the door and up the flight of steps leading to the first floor. He knew how Rinku felt; he saw the same fear Rinku must have had when Young Link died in Link when Ganondorf had aimed the Diabolus Angelus at Toon Link. And, if he closed his eyes just right, he could see himself holding a bloody sword in his shaky grip as Rinku kneeled in front of him with a bloody, dead child in his arms who looked exactly as Rinku must have as a child. Then, when Rinku got up, grabbed a handful of his blue shirt in his hand, screamed angry curses at him, and prepared to punch him, as Pit or rather Roy felt he deserved for the accident, Rinku doubled over in pain, blood soaking his already bloody tunic anew in quantities Pit knew no man could survive without, before he fell to the floor next to his younger incarnation, and shortly thereafter died.

The angel shook away the dark memories of his past life, looking at the courage and resolve Rinku emitted in his stride alone. He wouldn't let anything even remotely similar to the events of his past life repeat themselves. If he had to end someone's life today, he'd make sure it was Ganondorf's and not another Link's. Pit kept this resolve in mind as he and Rinku turned the corner into the central chamber of Ganondorf's Temple...

-_**Diabolus Crystal-**_

"Ah, isn't that sweet? Your little friend swears he'll save you without killing you first. He seems absolutely determined to save you, doesn't he?" "Link" or rather Diabolus Angelus said in a sing song voice, brushing a stubborn strand of blond hair out of her new face as she looked into the large mirror against her wall to see Link, dressed in a simple, white tunic under which he wore equally white, loose pants, white boots, and a long sleeved, transparent, white shirt beneath the tunic, glaring at her darkly, "Ah, why the sour attitude? Most men would kill to have the kind of power you have right now with me in your body. Did you even know how powerful your magic was under all those fancy sword tricks?" Diabolus Angelus lifted her left hand and aimed it at a nearby lamp. The lamp was lit with black lightning before it completely burst into flames and shattered, "To be honest, with your magic alone you're easily stronger than Ganondorf. Taking out your friends will be no-"

"If you so much as lay a finger on any of my friends, I'll kill you!"

"How? In case you haven't realized it yet, you're just a dinky, little spirit. Or," Diabolus Angelus walked up to the mirror, running a hand over Link's image in the glass, "haven't you noticed yet that you're getting weaker the longer you're in there?" Link grimaced as his own face smirked triumphantly at him and then turned away toward the dresser. "In a few more hours, you'll be dead."

Now it was Link's turn to smirk, "That's only if the other Link doesn't kill you first."

"You mean that brat? Do you honestly think he can defeat-"

"The Hero of Time is alive again," Diabolus Angelus froze in her place, eyes widening in shock as Link grinned triumphantly. "So, I take it you know who I'm talking about?"

"You're bluffing. The Hero of Time can't be alive."

"Oh, he's very much alive. That light that struck you at Luigi's Mansion when you tried to use the Master Sword was actually a security measure designed specifically to call him back from the dead should any Link ever fall into evil's hands to either destroy him, or in my case, save him. Even as we speak he's making his way to this room to fight you. It's only a matter of time until he tracks you using the Triforce of Courage and forces you out of me. And before you get cocky and claim that he can't force you out, you should know Pit has a Holy Arrow. All he has to do is hit you with it and you'll be forced out of my body. After that, destroying you will be a breeze."

"You're bluffing. Not only would that arrow kill you in the process as well, but only one of the gods is capable of creating Holy Arrows."

"Yeah, and in case you've forgotten, Pit is the right hand man to the Goddess of Light. Besides, I'd gladly die if it meant taking you out with me," Link crossed his arms over his chest, smiling triumphantly into his own face. "You know, you could always find them and surrender now. Save you some pain and wasted time battling. You know they'll win out in the end, anyways."

Diabolus Angelus gritted her teeth angrily, running fingers through her hair and pacing the room in a panic. As much as she hated to admit it, Link was right. Even with her and Link's combined powers and Ganondorf's magic, she could never take on the Hero of Time...and he had reinforcements in case he failed...She'd learned enough about him from Ganondorf to know that much. Not only that, but he wouldn't stop until Diabolus Angelus was vanquished, even if it meant killing his descendent and stopping their reincarnation cycle forever.

"So, now you understand what you've gotten yourself into, don't you? If you let me go now, I'll make sure you're returned to your crystal, and the Hero of Time won't hurt you."

"Liar!" Diabolus Angelus yelled, causing Link to cringe at the sound of his own voice as it cracked with angry sobs, "If I let you go now, you'll give me to him later...and he'll destroy me for threatening you!"

"No! We'll leave you alone. You just need to-"

"How would you feel if you were trapped in my reflection for thousands of years, only no one could see you or talk to you? That was my life before Ganondorf released me, ever since that damned Swordsman weakened me enough that the Goddesses you adore so much could trap me!" Diabolus Angelus looked up, smiling through tears at the look of shock frozen to Link's face. "You've heard of him, right? The Swordsman Who Never Sleeps who founded Hyrule? If not, your precious Hero of Time has. He was the only mortal I ever loved. And can you guess what he was like?" Diabolus Angelus returned to the mirror, running a hand over Link's reflection again, "Exactly. Like. You. He was a Hero, just like you. The first wielder of the Triforce of Courage, the man who actually forged the Master Sword, the one to start the tradition of that tacky green tunic you love so much. He was even named Link, just like you. Of course, there were a few differences..." Diabolus Angelus reached into her boot, producing the dagger Link had kept in his boot that she'd used to almost kill Toon Link, "He wasn't afraid of anything, not even death. He was scarred from head to toe from countless battles against the forces of darkness. But you, Link," Diabolus Angelus lifted her left arm and held it up to the mirror, "your skin is as flawless as your soul. You're the perfect representation of the human race in every way," The demonic spirit pressed the knife against Link's arm and glared hatefully at the young man watching her wide eyed from the other side of the mirror. "Will you really be so eager to return to this body once I'm through with it?"

Diabolus Angelus pushed the knife into her arm, and Link screamed as pain shot through his entire body before the world went black...

**To Be Continued!**

**Flock's Footnotes!**

**(1) Melee can say Sheik's eye and skin color change are the result of magic, but the contacts theory helps with Pit's disguise.**

**(2) Yaoi-A genre of anime and manga centered around malexmale relationships.**

**(3) Fujoshi- Literally, "rotten girl". A female fan of yaoi. Well known for making up their own pairings and blowing any situation involving allegedly straight male characters completely out of proportion. We are especially encouraged in Brawl, where, thanks to the magic of the photo taking feature, an accidental pause made at the right time can make for some really dirty/creepy photos. In fact, one of my LinkxPit pictures is so bad, using it for Peach's blackmail would have gotten this story's rating bumped up!**

**(4) In The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask manga by Akira Himekawa, there's a bonus chapter showing the creature that was carved into Majora's Mask being defeated by a warrior who looked like adult Link with longer hair, armor, and a feather that transforms into a sword. He played a drum to make the monster dance for three days before it died, and I read somewhere that he was called The Swordsman Who Never Sleeps. I decided to make him the founder of Hyrule and the very first Link before the (personally made up) Hero of Salvation. Then again, I suppose now he's technically the Link from Skyward Sword. If you haven't read the Zelda manga yet, I highly recommend it, despite the English translation being made for kids. I swear, the cuter the art is, the dirtier Link's mind is (he looked up a girl's skirt in Minish Cap!), not to mention there's practically yaoi in some of the books (Ocarina of Time Part 2, and both Four Swords books, in particular; LinkxSheik, ShadowxVio, and BluexRed? Fanservice for the fujoshi!)**

** And with those out of the way...**

** Thank you for reading the second (and possibly last) double update of **_**The Diabolus Crystal!**_** Sure, it took me longer than two weeks to type up Chapter 14 (cringes), but just over a month is awesome, too! I certainly hope Chapter 14 (ugh...) helped clear the air about what the heck the deal was with Pit being Roy and the reason why Rinku was the aid chosen to help Pit save Link. If not, I deeply, and I mean **_**deeply**_** apologize!**

** Now, then, I noticed that some of my insane ramblings from Chapter 13 didn't make sense to some of you (L is real 2401 and the reason I'm deathly afraid of the number 14), so I'll go ahead and clear that up now! The great L is real 2401 conspiracy did, as Peach herself said, originate from a fountain in the courtyard in Super Mario 64 for the N64. If you swim up to the star statue in the middle of the fountain and look close enough, the plaque appears to say "L is real 2401 in Paper M". Back in 1996, no one had any way of knowing just what this meant, or if that's even what it actually said (I myself was only four years old when this game came out, and I was still just learning how to read so I put it off as a bunch of chicken scratch). Two years later, the L is real message appeared again, this time in The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time in Dodongo's Cavern (on the grave on the second floor that says "Giant dead Dodongo. When it sees red, a new way to go will be open" when you press A in front of it). From then on, people began trying to figure out just what this unusual message meant, sparking a ton of conspiracy theories, most involving a way of unlocking Luigi in Super Mario 64. What the message was trying to say was, in fact, that Luigi was going to appear in the game Paper Mario on February 4, 2001 (2/4/01). The game actually came out a day later, as you can see for yourself if you check the Chronicles of Super Smash Bros. Brawl. However, to this day, crazy fans such as myself continue to theorize new meanings to the L is real conspiracy, and I do believe the L is real message also appeared on the fountain in Super Mario 64 DS, but I've never played it myself, so I can't be sure.**

** As for my fear of the number 14, I have no idea what sparked that originally. Maybe it was that Valentine's Day falls on the 14th, or I kept losing at Melee when I had the volume set to 14, or I just noticed a pattern of unlucky things happening to me on the 14th of every month. I honestly don't remember! What I do know is that the day before my 14th birthday, I got really sick and thought I was going to die, so I had to leave my dad's house and go home to get better. I spent my birthday with my aunt, which wasn't bad at all since she bought me three CDs and a gaming magazine with new screenshots of The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess, but I was still sick. And so, to this day, I cringe in fear when I find anything involving the number 14, be it a chapter of a story, the track number of a CD, or even the date. In fact, a couple of bad things happened to me as soon as I started typing Chapter 14, including: my nosebleed problem returned, I had two panic attacks from drinking too much caffeine (so I had to give it up. Haven't had an attack since.), and my jaw really hurts any time I open my mouth, so I think my stupid wisdom teeth are coming in! Ugh, I friggin' hate you, 14!**

** Whew, I feel better already! With that out of the way, on with the review replies:**

**Captain Black Knight: So, was your theory on how Link could be the aid while still being the one rescued correct? Also, I do know what sort of hell (or, if you're rotten like me, paradise) gets unleashed when someone breaks the fourth wall- references to yaoi and crossdressing! Then again, I broke the fourth wall again in this chapter, so what sort of awful things could happen this time? O_0. I also further explained upon the L is real thing than I did when I sent you that PM, and you've gotten a glimpse into what sort of disturbed thoughts go through the mind of a psychotic writer like me to make me fear the number 14.**

**EggplantWitch: I really, really hope I tied up the loose ends of the whole Pit/Roy thing well enough in the last chapter that you're no longer confused! I also hope I made Rinku seem at least a little cooler as the aid since I explained what exactly went down during his past life with Roy. If I didn't, then I apologize for being terrible with explanations and beg forgiveness! ^_^ Although...When you talked about hoping something big and awesome crashing through the wall instead of Link, it got me thinking of giant robots like they have all the time in anime, so I ended up imagining a giant robot crashing through the wall followed by some sort of chant like they use in Gigantor. Admittedly, that would have been sweet.**

**riverraiden: Don't feel bad; it took me a while of being on the site before I finally made myself an account, so take your time, then post a really awesome story that blows mine out of the water! ^_^ Meh, Rinku being the aid didn't have to do with the Triforce, but he is using it to help him locate Link, so that's good enough. I hope I still met your expectations with these two chapters! Please, dear Goddesses above, don't make the chapters duplicate on me again!**

**iMelinda: Wow, where to begin? First, thanks for reviewing every chapter like that! I usually just review the last chapter that's been posted of a story that's still in progress, so I'm really touched that you would review every chapter instead of just being like me. I've never really considered myself as being good at writing battle scenes, either. Whenever I realize I have to write one, it makes me want to crawl into the corner and cry. The main problem is I'm afraid they're too short, or if the tables are turned like they were during Pit's battle, that the good guy suddenly wins too easily. However, if you think they're good, then I suppose I'm not nearly as terrible at them as I thought. And you didn't have to wait for the newest chapters too long, although that could change with the next update (I hope not, though).**

** And that's a wrap for the review replies!**

** Love the story? Hate it? Think I should change info about the story (summary, rating, genre)? Then review! Comments and criticisms are very welcome!**

** And P.S. I don't own Super Smash Bros. (except copies of Melee and Brawl), Final Fantasy X-2, The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time (except a copy of the Collector's Edition version for the GCN), or The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask (except copies of the original N64 version and the Collector's Edition version for the GCN). I also don't own any of the websites mentioned in this chapter (Yaoi Gallery (), Deviant Art (), Smash Bros. DOJO! (), Wikipedia (), and FanFiction, although I am obviously a member of one of them ^_^)**

** I swear the author's note won't be this long next time, really!**


	16. Chapter 16

Everything was going according to plan. Ganondorf smirked proudly as he brought a glass of wine to his lips, his eyes glued to the very cauldron he'd watched the Smashers in back when they were still separated into small groups. Even though the Smashers had managed to escape from their prison, they had no way of escaping the Evil Realm, their weapons were hidden away in a heavily guarded vault, and in just a couple more hours, Diabolus Angelus would kill Link and there'd be nothing to stop them from using her powers to take over the world. Ganondorf knew that he'd probably see some sort of last ditch effort by the Smashers to sneak back in, retrieve their weapons, and try to save Link from his terrible fate, but he was confident enough in his minions' ability to stop the trespassers that he barely acknowledged them as a threat.

All the same, Ganondorf kept a vigilant eye on his cauldron, scanning each of his numerous hallways for signs of the Smashers. He'd had enough experience with overconfidence being his downfall as a kid in green beat up all his minions and finally defeated him to know better than to relax. He'd noticed already that Pit was missing from the group outside; now he just needed to figure out exactly where Pit was hiding in his lair before he sent the minions to dispose of him. Surprisingly, finding Pit was harder than Ganondorf had anticipated; he carefully scanned every room for signs of the wing-endowed boy twice, but he couldn't find hind nor hair of the angel.

He was beginning to wonder if he'd accidentally missed Pit and that he was actually still with the others outside, when he noticed, in the fourth floor hallway, one of the minions Diabolus Angelus had made to look like her true form. Something about her seemed...off. Unlike the other minions around her, she was walking rigidly, her head bent low as if from embarrassment. She kept fixing her skirt as if she were trying to cover more of her body than it could, and every now and then, she would turn her head as if she were looking at someone else before suddenly facing forward, face a deep shade of red. She also didn't seem to be patrolling a specific hallway like the other minions had been designed to; she was quickly making her way up the temple, zig-zagging every which way to avoid a collision with the others. The minions around her seemed to be paying her no mind, though, and Ganondorf was starting to consider doing the same... until he caught sight of her backside. At first, he didn't notice anything unusual, but as he looked closer, he noticed one teeny, tiny, almost insignificant white feather sticking up from the back of her corset.

It was Pit.

Ganondorf choked on the wine halfway down his throat and dropped the glass as he struggled to breathe when some of the wine accidentally entered his windpipe instead. The King of Evil was caught between choking and laughing as he looked Pit over, now more aware of the flaws in Pit's disguise as he watched the boy's awkward attempt at a nonchalant, feminine stride. At the same time, certain areas of Pit's disguise had been carefully executed to perfection, and Ganondorf had to commend the angel for his ability to pull off such an unexpected ruse. Of all the various ideas he'd harbored about how Pit had slipped past his defenses, being disguised as a woman had been one of the few that hadn't crossed his mind. Maybe it was just the absurdity of the situation, or it might have even been that he was looking forward to seeing how Pit was going to pull off fighting Diabolus Angelus while he was dressed like a woman, but Ganondorf decided against pressing the button that would alert the others to the presence of the intruder.

Instead, the Dark Lord snapped his fingers, summoning a real minion to his side with a fresh glass. No one said he couldn't enjoy the spectacle of watching a revered army captain running around in women's clothing before the battle, after all. This changed nothing; even if Pit found a way to stop Diabolus Angelus from taking full control of Link's body, Ganondorf had come up with a backup plan that ensured, if nothing else, that they wouldn't be escaping with their lives.

That was good enough for him.

**-Diabolus Crystal-**

It was working.

Against all odds, against Pit's expectations-nay, against Pit's own desires- the disguise that the girls had forced him into with the threat of misleading photographs as leverage was actually working. He'd already made his way up four of the thirteen stories of Ganondorf's tower without arousing any suspicion, and he was currently on his way up the spiral staircase leading to the fifth floor. Pit stumbled for a second as the heel of his right boot caught on one of the stairs, but thankfully, the staircases were devoid of any real minions. That could easily change the closer they got to the masters of this infernal tower, so Pit made a note to try to avoid a similar misstep in the near future.

"Are you okay?" Rinku whispered from Pit's left. Out of the corner of Pit's eye, he saw the hero hesitantly reach out as if to help Pit steady himself.

"Yeah. Sure. Fine. I'm being forced through the workout from hell all over again, only this time I can't even use my wings to take me up the stairs due to the exposure risk despite the fact that I keep tripping on these stupid boots," as if on cue, Pit stumbled again, and it took all of his willpower to hold back the four letter word that had formed on his tongue as he continued, "and every hallway we explore has more guards than the last, but yeah. I'm just peachy."

"It could be worse, you know," Rinku said with a shrug, retracting his hand.

"I seriously doubt that!" Pit huffed. He noticed, with a slight sigh of relief, that the door was just a few more steps away. Then he remembered his own words, and his heart dropped: every hallway has more guards than the last. The first hallway had held no guards, thanks to the fact that Rinku and the Smashers that had been able to put up a fight had vanquished them all during their escape. That had been perfect. The second floor, there had been a few wimpy enemies wandering around- Goombas, Mites, Jyx, and a single Primid. The third floor was slightly worse: along with some of the minions Pit himself was masquerading as, there were two Armights, a Greap, some Puppits, and a repeat of all the minions from the second floor. Their most recent floor had been worse still; all of the enemies from the last three floors, plus even more Dia Clones (so much simpler than calling them minions made to resemble Diabolus Angelus's true form, in Pit's expert opinion), a Roturret, several Autolances, two Shellpods, and a Cymul. If Pit's theory was correct, the next floor would carry repeats of the enemies he'd already passed on the other floors, as well as even more of the enemies from the Subspace Emissary, some of whom had shown some signs of intelligence during battle.

"No, it really could be a whole lot worse," Rinku said dryly. "Diabolus Angelus could have made her minions wear stilettos."

Pit couldn't help but laugh, "Yeah. I'd still be stuck on the first floor, trying to figure out how to get up the stairs. But they'd make really great weapons, wouldn't they? I wouldn't even need to get my arrow; I could just stab Diabolus Angelus with one of my heels for an instant kill. Imagine that deep sense of shame, being killed by a woman's shoe."

"Link would never live it down," Rinku added just as Pit opened the door. They both grew silent so as not to blow their cover, but Pit knew that he wasn't hiding his grin very well. Now that he wasn't holding a grudge with Pit anymore, Rinku had warmed up to Pit about as easily as Link had once he'd realized that Pit hadn't kidnapped Zelda during the Subspace Emissary. Maybe it was just because Rinku held all of Link's memories up until the moment that Rinku had separated from Link's body, but they were eerily similar; Pit could easily see Link making the same light conversation to help put Pit at ease if he was the one assisting Pit with a heart-rending mission to potentially kill one of their friends.

Unfortunately, Pit's moment of mirth was short-lived; the moment he caught sight of the newest hallway, the smile vanished from his face and he felt his heart drop. Pit's theory was way off, much to both his and Rinku's surprise. Unlike the other floors, the fifth floor hallway appeared to be completely empty. Pit took a couple of steps forward and looked around, but look as he might, he couldn't find anything out of the ordinary. That could only mean one thing: the hallway was booby-trapped.

"Well, at least they got a little creative in their level design," Pit said, keeping it at a whisper in case they weren't really alone.

"I don't know. Why would they wait until now to set a trap? It would have been better to booby-trap the first floor. Let me check it out," Rinku reached into the item bag at his side, producing what appeared, at least to Pit, like some sort of purple magnifying glass. The Hero of Time held it in front of him, and almost instantly, he went rigid. "Er... We're not alone. You are going to hate me for this, but... Do you remember the Boos Professor Gadd told us about right before we entered Luigi's mansion?"

Pit shook his head. "Not really. I was still freaked out because I thought Gadd was a-" Pit's face went pale, and Rinku knew he'd figured it out. "Boos are a type of ghost, aren't they?" At Rinku's slight nod, Pit whimpered, suddenly more aware of the slightly chilly temperature in the hallway and the eerie presence all around him. The hallway was full of ghosts. In other words, a room filled with the creatures Pit feared more than anything else in the universe, only he couldn't see them to stay out of their reach. "You'll excuse me if I run screaming to the other end of the hallway, right?" Pit whispered.

"No. Stay calm. They won't attack if you don't provoke them. As long as you stay calm, they'll think you're just another ordinary minion. If you give them a reason to think you're an intruder, they'll report you to Ganondorf, or worse, kill you. Act natural."

"R-Right," Easier said than done. Pit slowly exhaled in a failed attempt to slow his panicking heart before he took a single shaky step forward, sure that he was going to be mobbed by a bunch of invisible poltergeists at any second. When he wasn't immediately attacked, Pit relaxed a little, though it didn't make him move any faster. How Rinku could casually move through the ghost-laden hallway so calmly after seeing the beasties was beyond Pit's comprehension; Pit was only able to imagine what the ghosts looked like, and he was shaking at the idea of one of them so much as breathing on him. He was desperately wishing that he'd kept the Poltergust 5000 rather than handing it off to Luigi during the battle with the Rabbids.

"Just a little further. You're doing great," Rinku whispered encouragingly.

"Easy for you to say. I hope one of these floors has your greatest fear on it, too," Pit muttered back. That was when it happened. The only warning Pit got was the other-worldly cackle in his right ear before one of the ghosts floated over... and licked his cheek.

Pit lost it. With a scream that had Rinku convinced that one of the ghosts had impaled Pit with a spear, the angel shoved at the invisible specter and high-tailed it for the door, his cover as a minion be damned.

"Pit!" Rinku called as the angel passed him without a glance. The angel continued undeterred, forcing Rinku to give chase lest he be left behind with the ghouls. Luckily for Rinku, he was, like Link, in much better shape than Pit and passed the angel with ease, making it through the door before Pit could possibly block it to keep the ghosts out. He heard Pit cry out in fear, obviously believing that Rinku was about to trap him with the Boos, but much to his relief, Rinku held the door open for Pit and quickly slammed it shut as soon as Pit reached the safety of the staircase.

The angel collapsed to the floor and pulled his knees up to his chest, practically crying, "Please, go on without me. You don't really need me to help save Link, right? Link's an expert with a bow, so you must be, too. You can shoot him with the arrow just fine, can't you? Please, don't make me go through that anymore. If there's anything even remotely that terrifying on any of the other floors, I...I think I'll die of a heart attack."

Rinku sighed and sat down next to the angel, who was fighting back tears as fatigue and hysteria took their toll on him. "If it's any consolation, I already know that my worst fear is on one of these floors, just like you wished. If we don't stop Diabolus Angelus, or if we screw up and we can't bring Link back to life, the past really will repeat itself. If Link dies now, it will drastically affect the future. I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but Link only has a few years left to live, even if this battle ends well for him. His destiny is to die fighting Ganondorf while the Goddesses bury Hyrule in the ocean Toonie will be born on. If Link dies now, Ganondorf will kill the King of Hyrule. As a result, when Toonie sets out to save his sister after Ganondorf has her kidnapped, he'll drown when Ganondorf has him tossed into the ocean, since the King of Hyrule was the one who saved Toonie and helped him with his adventure. In other words, if Link dies, Toonie dies with him. Imagine all the good deeds between the both of them, suddenly erased from history because of a single screw up. That's my greatest fear."

Pit couldn't believe how calm Rinku sounded as he described what was basically the worst case scenario of their battle. If Diabolus Angelus won and Link was killed, Toon Link would die, too? Never mind that even a positive outcome for the heroes meant that Link was doomed to die fighting Ganondorf for the sake of Hyrule's future. Pit couldn't even bring himself to imagine Toon Link just suddenly vanishing in the middle of the battle, erasing all the good deeds he'd done and had yet to do for Hyrule. Even if he wasn't aware of the exact details of Toon Link's adventures to protect the Great Sea, save the Ocean King, and eventually help discover the new land of Hyrule, Pit knew that without Toon Link, his world would be doomed.

Suddenly, being attacked by more ghosts seemed much less significant.

"Okay, then," Pit sighed, "for Toon Link's sake..." Rinku nodded and got to his feet before helping the angel up, and they continued up the staircase toward the sixth floor.

**-Diabolus Crystal-**

Speaking of the Hero of Winds, Toon Link had been getting a terrible feeling in the pit of his stomach since Pit and Rinku had gone ahead to Ganondorf's tower. He couldn't explain it, but this intense dizzy spell had struck him mere minutes after the two heroes' departure, and it had only gotten worse as time went on. He tried to write it off as fatigue left over from his fight with Ganondorf and Diabolus Angelus the previous day coupled with a lack of sleep, but he couldn't quite shake the feeling that something much worse was at work. However, until he had concrete evidence that something worse than mere insomnia was plaguing him, he wasn't going to worry the others and would instead quietly suffer on his own.

Unfortunately for Toon Link, his plan was quickly foiled when Peach walked over and kneeled in front of him to give him his routine check-up. He was really learning to hate being treated like a helpless infant. "Hey, sugar. How are you feeling?"

"O-Okay," Toon Link cringed at the sound of his own voice. He could clearly hear how hoarse he sounded; he was sure that Peach had noticed it, too. He quickly tried to cover his illness by adding, "just a little groggy. That's all."

Peach wasn't even the least bit fooled. She removed one of her gloves and placed the back of her hand against Toon Link's forehead, and instantly he saw her eyebrows furrow with concern. She didn't utter a word; instead she reached into the medical bag she and Mario had packed and mostly emptied since they'd come to the Evil Realm and pulled out a digital ear thermometer. Toon Link wasn't sure what to make of the strange device as the princess put a small plastic cover on the end and stuck it in his ear, but he knew when she pulled it out and seemed to grow even more concerned that it wasn't anything good. "Sweetie, how long have you been feeling sick?"

"Since a little after Pit and Rinku-sempai left. W-Why...?"

"You're running a fever of 104."

"Is that bad?"

Peach didn't directly answer him, but the way she bit her lower lip was a dead giveaway. "It might just be an infection. Nothing we can't handle." Peach proceeded to undo the bandages around Toon Link's neck, but much to her surprise, the wound wasn't in the least bit infected; in fact, it actually looked a little better than it had during the last check-up.

"Peachy..." Toon Link muttered. The dizziness was a million times worse than when it started; he couldn't even keep his eyes open anymore as everything around him seemed to sway. "Am I going to die?"

"Of course not! You're going to be just fine!" Now it was Peach's turn to shudder over how fake she sounded. It was almost heartbreaking that Toon Link seemed reassured by her words.

"Oh. That's... good... I'd hate for sempai to come back and find out I died while he was gone..." And then, the worst happened. Without any sort of warning, Toon Link exhaled a long, shuddery breath and collapsed.

"Toon Link!" Peach shrieked, grabbing the others' attention as she proceeded to check the small hero's pulse. To the princess's relief, Toon Link was still alive, although his heartbeat was relatively weak.

"What happened?" Mario asked as he kneeled down next to Toon Link and gave the child his own examination.

"I don't know. He said he'd been feeling a little groggy, and when I checked he had a fever, but... I can't find anything wrong with him. He just suddenly collapsed for no reason."

"There's a reason for everything," Mario said matter-of-factly. He flipped Toon Link's left hand over for the others to see, revealing the Triforce of Courage. Unlike earlier, when Rinku had shown up to save everyone, the Triforce had turned a sickly shade of yellow and was flickering like a dying lightbulb. "If I'm not mistaken, something happened to Link, and Toon Link was directly affected as a result."

"It's possible," Zelda added. "Toon Link is Link's reincarnation. It's possible that Link's life directly affects Toon Link's, so if something bad happens to Link...Toon Link might cease to exist."

"Rinku must have known something like this could happen, right? Why wouldn't he warn us about it?" Peach whispered.

"He probably didn't want to scare Toon Link. I don't think 'Oh, by the way, if we screw up, you're gonna die' is the type of thing a kid his age could handle," Mario muttered. He went to place Toon Link's hand back on the ground, but before he could lower it, Toon Link's hand somehow slipped out on its own. When Mario checked it out, he discovered that the bottom half of Toon Link's arm had turned transparent, much as Mario did whenever he'd put on the Vanish Cap in some of the paintings in Peach's castle. It seemed Zelda was right; Toon Link was starting to disappear.

Out of the corner of his eye, Mario saw Peach reach into their medical bag again, this time pulling out Pit's toga. They'd tried to wash it when they returned to Luigi's mansion, but they hadn't been able to get all of Toon Link's blood out of it and had decided to pack it for an emergency blanket rather than return it to Pit. Mario understood what Peach wanted to do immediately; he lifted Toon Link while Peach wrapped the small boy snugly in the toga for warmth before taking Toon Link and hugging him close to her chest. She looked absolutely terrified over the thought of Toon Link vanishing. Mario could relate; after everything Toon Link had been through throughout this crazy adventure- finding himself in an altered, hellish future, almost being possessed himself, nearly dying at the hands of his idol- he was going to die, just like that?

If Mario could help it, there was no way he was going to let Toon Link go out like that.

"I'm going in."

"Going in? Like, in the tower? We're supposed to wait for Pit's signal-"

"Screw waiting for the signal, Satoshi! By the time Pit sends that damn signal, Toon Link might already be dead! You can stay and wait if you want to, but I'm going! I'm plenty pissed right now! Pulling off a Final Smash is hardly a problem! I'll kill every bastard who gets in my way, alone, if I have to!"

"Count me in," Snake said. "I'm sick of waiting around. It's show time."

Suddenly, every Smasher was volunteering to join Mario in his attempt to storm the tower and take their enemies by surprise. Even Shigeru volunteered to help, although the very thought of what sort of Pokemon he would have sent a chill down Satoshi's spine.

Once everyone was ready, Mario began leading his "troops" into battle. "All right. Let's do this!"

**-Diabolus Crystal-**

"Finally!" Pit sighed when the door leading to the twelfth floor hallway at last came into view. At long last, after nearly half an hour of bobbing and weaving through enemy-infested territory and several close calls, Pit and Rinku had finally arrived on the floor where the Smashers' weapons were being stored. Despite managing to keep his cover from being blown, Pit couldn't imagine putting up with anymore of the terrifying climb up the tower. The Boos had only been the tip of the iceberg in terms of hellish monsters. Pit had met all kinds of monsters he hoped to never see again for the rest of his life, each floor holding a group of monsters more terrifying than the last. First up had been the Metroids, which, though Pit had seen them plenty of times before during his travels, there had been enough of them clustered in the hallway that, had one seen through his disguise and latched onto him, it would have spelled certain doom for the quest.

The next floor introduced Pit to his first ever zombies, the Redeads of Rinku's (and, by extension, Link's, Toon Link's, and Zelda's) world. Apparently, their method of attack had plagued Rinku enough during his lifetime that he'd gone ahead and frozen them, with a song no less, to avoid them. And Pit wasn't even going to go into thinking about the other horrendous monsters- war-loving aliens known as "Skedar," Pit's dear friend the Eggplant Wizard in triplicate, a super scary guy with a chainsaw (who Rinku cleverly identified as The Chainsaw Guy), and finally, the best one of all, a really creepy, monstrous guy with a triangular head and butcher's smock looking clothes with a huge bloody sword known as Pyramid Head. To be honest, Pit was eternally grateful that this next floor was most likely the last that would contain monsters (other than Diabolus Angelus and Ganondorf, of course), although a large part of him was dreading the discovery of what exactly was going to be there. If it was scarier than Pyramid Head and Chainsaw Guy, Pit would be genuinely impressed.

"Are you ready?" Rinku asked softly. Other than their run-in with the Redeads, Rinku hadn't shown even the slightest hint that he was scared, even when Chainsaw Guy came within inches of decapitating him with his weapon of choice while looking Pit over. Pit was jealous, but he wasn't exactly surprised; Rinku hadn't become the first wielder of the Triforce of Courage for nothing.

"As ready as I can be," Pit replied, putting on his bravest face as he threw open the door and stepped into the last hallway separating him from the only thing capable of saving his best friend.

What he saw was not the grotesque monster he'd been expecting. Scattered throughout the hallway were eight skinny, sickly looking Sycamore Trees with five tiny branches each swaying weakly in the slight breeze blowing in from the rows of small windows lining the hallway. To be honest, Pit couldn't see any signs of an enemy, but something in him was slowly filling with terror as he stared back and forth between the two trees nearest him.

"Oh, man," Rinku moaned, "it's a Dead Hand."

"D-Dead Hand? What's a Dead Hand?"

"You really don't want to know. Just try to avoid those arms, and we can get through unscathed. If it grabs you, don't struggle. It might mistake you for a Dia Clone and leave you alone. I'll fight it off if it doesn't. Your weapons are in the fourth door on the left, in case it captures me instead."

"Got it," Pit exhaled slowly and steeled himself for the worst as he passed between the first two arms, certain that they were going to grab him immediately before whatever horrible monster they belonged to sprang out. When they didn't, Pit felt his confidence build a little as he passed the next two, then the two after them, finally coming across the door to the weapons vault. He reached to open it, but he'd barely lifted his arm before one of Dead Hand's arms reached out and grabbed Pit by the top of his head, holding him firmly in place. Pit exhaled again to keep himself from freaking out as he glanced over at Rinku to see him drawing his sword. At first, nothing happened, but after a few seconds the ground began shaking as a grotesque monster the same disgusting shade of gray as the arms emerged from out of the floor and began slowly waddling over to the trapped angel. When it reached him, the Dead Hand lowered itself to Pit's level, revealing to the angel its eyes engraved into its disgusting flesh and its large, gaping maw. Pit caught a whiff of its disgusting breath as it sniffed him, and he sincerely prayed to Palutena with all his heart that it would mistake him for a Dia Clone and go away.

Unfortunately, it seemed Palutena wasn't listening this time; the disgusting monster roared, and before Pit had time to react, it bit into his right arm. The angel howled in pain, and Rinku sprang into action, thrusting his sword through the Dead Hand's torso and making it retreat back from whence it came. The hand holding onto Pit returned to an upright position and the angel retreated from it immediately.

"Are you okay?" Rinku asked, taking the angel's arm into his hand to inspect it. The wound wasn't very deep, but it was bleeding heavily, and the Dead Hand was most likely riddled with diseases.

"Yeah. Thanks for the save. I guess that thing saw right through me."

"Dead Hands find their pray by scent and touch, so I'm not all that surprised." Rinku removed his Stone Mask and walked over to one of the arms, allowing it to capture him and lure Dead Hand out of hiding. "Go on ahead, Pit. I'll be there in a second."

"Right," Pit returned to the door to the vault, watching for only a few seconds as Dead Hand waddled over to Rinku before he entered the weapons vault and closed the door behind him. Pit had expected the task of finding his weapons to be relatively simple, but then again, he'd never realized before just how many weapons he and his comrades actually carried. Among the few he recognized were Toon Link's Hero's Shield, Snake's C4 bombs, Peach's frying pan, a few of Mario and Luigi's various power-ups, Samus's entire body suit, Wolf's blaster, Wario's motorcycle... and that was just the beginning! "Gotta start somewhere," Pit sighed. He kneeled down and began digging through one of the various piles of gear for any sign of his stuff, immediately finding the Hylian Shield and, just below that, the Hero's Bow. That was relatively easy. Pit dug a little further, hoping to come across the ever vital Holy Arrow, but look as he might, he couldn't find it. He moved on to a different pile of equipment and began searching through there when Rinku finally entered, wiping his bloodied sword clean on his thigh and returning it to its sheathe.

"Hey. How's the search going?"

"You just killed a huge monster, and that's the first thing you say?" Pit sighed, leaning back on his heels and looking up to meet Rinku's eyes. "I found the shield and the bow, but I haven't found the Holy Arrow yet. You mind helping me look?" Rinku nodded, getting down on his knees on the opposite side of the room and digging through yet another pile of gear while Pit continued sifting through his own pile.

At first, Pit had been fairly light-hearted about the whole thing, but as the minutes flew by and neither he nor Rinku could find a sign of the arrow, Pit began to panic. They both finished looking through the various piles of equipment at about the same time, but as they turned to look at each other, it was immediately clear that neither one of them had been able to locate the blessed arrow.

"This can't be right. I know I brought it with me... Did I lose it while I was fighting the Creature? Oh, Goddesses... What if Diabolus Angelus found out about the arrow and destroyed it?"

"She can't. That arrow was blessed by one of the Golden Goddesses. If she touched it directly, it would kill her. She might have stolen it, but she couldn't destroy it. We can get it back from her," Rinku walked over to the spazzing angel and helped him to his feet, his eyes immediately drawn to the wound Pit hadn't stopped to treat before digging through the others' gear. "Why didn't you take care of this?" Rinku asked crossly, lifting Pit's arm so the angel could see just how nasty his injury was.

"Oh...Yeah, I forgot about that," Pit replied sheepishly.

Rinku sighed angrily and reached into the item bag at his side for a bottle of water. He uncorked it and poured it over Pit's injury, making the angel wince as he watched diluted blood run off his arm and drip to the floor. Without warning, Rinku kneeled down and ripped off part of Pit's skirt, using one side to wipe the wound clean and the other side to bandage it.

"Uh, thanks...again," Pit muttered sheepishly. "We should get going."

"In that getup? Really?"

"Hey, I tried to get you to help me stay out of this, but you said your revenge would be complete if I wore this!"

"Yeah, but..." Rinku reached back into his bag, this time pulling out the Master Sword with its belt... and a very familiar, faded green tunic, "wouldn't you rather look like a hero when you go into battle, rather than a girl?"

Pit gaped at the tunic, reaching out to take it from Rinku but not believing his eyes. It was Link's tunic; Pit could tell by the dark green stitches throughout it. Stitches Pit himself had put in it just before he and Link left to explore Hyrule at the beginning of this nightmarish adventure. "Where did you get this?"

"The Creature used Link's tunic when he created the illusion that Link was in the coffin. When the illusion vanished, the tunic stayed behind. I figured I'd make it up to you for helping to force you in drag by giving it to you now."

"Thank you," Pit eagerly removed the Dia Clone clothes, leaving only the shorts (which were his to begin with) as he pulled Link's tunic on. It was a surprisingly good fit; Pit had no problem fitting into the tunic once he, regretfully, cut two slits in the back for his wings to slip out of (and how good it felt to let his wings spread for the first time in what felt like ages). He also found it easy to slip the belt holding the Master Sword over his back before placing the Hylian Shield over it. Rinku also gave Pit Link's other belt with the item bags on it to put the Hero's Bow in, revealing to Pit that all of Link's equipment was still inside and that Pit suddenly had an entire arsenal at his disposal for fighting Diabolus Angelus. The last thing Rinku gave Pit were Pit's very own sandals to slip into, which was perhaps the greatest relief for the angel, since he wasn't sure how he could pull off fighting in those damn boots.

While Pit would prefer to be fighting in his own clothes, making the switch from women's clothing to Link's tunic was a definite improvement. He felt ready to take on anything now that he wasn't stuck in drag... aside from the make-up, which had smeared a little while Pit pulled his new clothes on. Pit took a second to run his fingers through his hair to return it to its usual mess of spikes, and with that, he finally felt satisfied with his look.

"Much better," Pit said with a happy sigh. He turned to ask Rinku if he was ready to go, but he stopped short when he noticed the angry look on his face. That couldn't be good. "Oh boy... What's wrong?"

"Huh? Oh," Rinku blushed and turned away, and Pit felt dread building in his gut. "Um... Seeing you in those clothes... reminded me of something. You know the Ocarina of Time, right? Well, there's a certain song that goes along with it, and I just realized that we could have used it a long time ago and saved ourselves a lot of grief."

"What?"

"It's called 'The Song of Time.' If I played it, we could go back in time three days to before Link was possessed, maybe even before Nana was possessed, or even before Ganondorf found the Diabolus Crystal in the first place. Then we could find it ourselves, destroy it, and prevent all of this from happening before it has the chance to happen again."

"Are you kidding me? We can seriously go back in time with a song? Won't there be any consequences?"

"None. That's the beauty of it. You'd be taking the place of yourself in the past...I don't really know what would happen to me... but you'd be able to find the Diabolus Crystal and stop Ganondorf. The best part is, if you failed to stop him, you could borrow the Ocarina of Time from Zelda and keep resetting time until you got it right."

"Let's just do that, then!" Pit cheered. Granted, it was something of an anti-climactic end to the adventure, but Pit didn't care. This way, Pit could avoid having to kill Link, and he could even reverse all the damage that had been done because of Ganondorf. It was perfect! Rinku just needed to play the ocarina, and they could be on their merry way!

Pit was actually bouncing up and down with excitement as Rinku reached into his item bag and retrieved the Ocarina of Time. However, as soon as Rinku attempted to put the ocarina to his lips, some strange, brown blur jumped up, grabbed the ocarina, and landed just a short distance behind them, and as it turned to face them, both Pit and Rinku prepared for the worst rant they would probably ever hear as they recognized the incredibly upset face of Mr. Resetti.

"How many times do I have to tell you punks! It's not rocket science! I don't care how you're pulling it off! Resetting is resetting, and resetting is wrong!" Mr. Resetti actually jumped up and slapped both Pit and Rinku across the face with a single powerful blow. "And what are you two punks doing, hogging the spotlight like this? Do you know how long I spent waiting in the wings for my chance to shine again? Fifteen chapters, that's how long! Fifteen long, agonizing, boring chapters! It's been nearly three years since this story began! Nana is possessed? Rabbids show up? You almost die, then you show up for no reason? Talk about a snore fest! What the readers want is me! I'm the most interesting thing they've seen in ages! Oh, all the stories I have to tell them about my adventures!"

"Er... That's great, Mr. Resetti, really, but we really need to get-"

"-Going? Why? What is it that you have to do that's more important than me? Huh? You two punks aren't planning to kill poor Dia and Ganny, are you?"

"Ganny?" Pit whispered quietly to Rinku.

"I think he means Ganondorf."

"Oh."

"Well? Are you?" Mr. Resetti growled, sounding more impatient by the second.

"Uh...That was sort of the plan..."

"Wrong answer!" Mr. Resetti reached into the pocket of his overalls and pulled out a small remote with just one large, red button right in its center and pressed it before either of the heroes could stop him. Instantly, a small red light in the room began flashing and an ear-splitting alarm sounded from every which way. Resetti had just alerted the entire temple to the two intruders, and every monster they'd slipped by with the greatest of ease was about to come up to their floor and attack them. "And that's what happens when you turn me into a bit-part character!"

"You little-" Rinku unsheathed his sword and struck Resetti across the back of the head with the hilt, instantly knocking the annoying mole unconscious. As Resetti hit the ground, both Rinku and Pit noticed the sickening crack that followed his decent. The Ocarina of Time was broken. "Well, there goes that plan."

"Zelda's is still in here somewhere, right? Why don't we just find it, and-"

"There's no time. Remember who's closest to us? Our first priority is to get out of this room before Pyramid Head and the Chainsaw Guy make this our final resting place!" Pit turned a ghostly shade of white but nodded and quickly followed Rinku out the door, and not a moment too soon because Pyramid Head had already made his way up to their hallway and was slowly dragging his huge sword down the hallway toward them.

"Okay, so, since you know who he is, any idea how to beat him?"

"Not a clue. All I know is, whenever the hero faces him, he's usually low on health and ammo after taking on some other foes."

"Don't say that! Chainsaw Guy might-" Speak of the devil, Chainsaw Guy came barreling into the hallway at that very moment, special weapon of choice drowning out the sound of the alarm Mr. Resetti had triggered. "Never mind..."

"Well, which one do you want?"

"I don't know. Do you know Chainsaw Guy's weakness?"

"No, other than the fact that he can't see through that sack on his head, so he has to rely on sound to find his victims. Also, he's really-Gah!" Rinku shoved Pit against the opposite wall and ducked, just barely dodging a quick swipe from the Resident Evil villain's chainsaw. "-fast."

"I think I'll take my chances with Pyramid Head, then."

"Got it. Try to do your Final Smash while you fight him, all right? The others are still waiting for the signal from you, and we'll need all the help we can get if we can get rid of these two."

"R-Right," Pit dashed past Chainsaw Guy before he could take another swipe at him, finding Pyramid Head... still at the other end of the hallway. "Okay, he's slow. Good. If I can just keep him at a distance, I might be able to take him out with just arrows," Pit pulled his bow back out and pulled back the string to summon an Ethereal Arrow, aiming as well as he could toward Pyramid Head's heart before letting it fly. It struck dead on, but the only sign that it had hit was that Pyramid Head lifted his sword off the ground for a second and swayed, but he continued his advance as if nothing had happened. Pit prepared another arrow, ready to keep up a barrage of arrows until he either took his enemy down or, worse, Pyramid Head finally reached him.

Rinku's fight was turning out worse; the Hero of Time couldn't even get close enough to his enemy to try anything. Every time he tried to go in for a hit, the Chainsaw Guy would lunge toward him and force him to retreat. Even when Rinku put on the Bunny Hood to help increase his speed, it wasn't enough to give him any sort of edge; he managed to get close enough to Chainsaw Guy to get in a hit to the behemoth's chest, but it didn't even phase him. He countered with another swipe of his chainsaw, which actually cut through Rinku's shield when he tried to guard rather than retreat, resulting in quite a bit of torn arm flesh for the hero. Rinku grimaced and retreated before his enemy took his entire arm off, throwing the shield to the ground before going back in.

As for Pit, his plan of taking down Pyramid Head with nothing but arrows wasn't turning out as he had hoped. Pyramid Head had gained quite a bit of ground despite the dozens of arrows Pit had fired into his chest, and, realizing there was no other choice, Pit put the bow away and unsheathed the Master Sword to try to take Pyramid Head out the old fashioned way. Before he coud try, however, a muffled scream from the other end of the hallway caught his attention, and when he turned to look, he saw Rinku, lying on the floor in a huge pool of blood, while Chainsaw Guy was lowering the chainsaw to decapitate him.

"Link!" Pit screamed, not even thinking about it as he turned his back toward his own enemy and pulled out Link's Gale Boomerang, throwing it at Chainsaw Guy to grab his attention. The small tornado wasn't enough to harm the monstrous killer, but it did take his attention off of Rinku and turn it toward Pit. "Hey, ugly! Come and get me!" If Chainsaw Guy could see, he'd have noticed the bright red aura surrounding Pit and the fact that his eyes had turned yellow, but as it was, he blindly barreled toward Pit, unaware that he was falling right into Pit's trap as the angel summoned Palutena's image behind him and with her, a dozen Centurions. "All troops, move out!" Pit yelled, causing the soldiers of Palutena's Army to ram heroically into both Chainsaw Guy and Pyramid Head, distracting them long enough for Pit to cross over to Rinku and see if he was okay. His eyes quickly flew to the deep wound in the hero's arm, but when he tried to touch it, Rinku swatted him away.

"It's fine, Pit. That's not the problem."

"Are you blind? How is that not the problem?"

"I got dizzy and collapsed for a moment. That's all that happened," Rinku staggered for a moment as he got to his feet, but otherwise he seemed all right, so Pit didn't force the issue any further. "Did you send the signal yet?"

"Just a few seconds ago. I don't know how long it will take the others to get here, though."

"In that case, we just need to hold off these two until help arrives. Do you think you can distract Chainsaw Guy for me? I want to try something."

Pit turned to look at the chainsaw wielding psychopath and saw that he'd recovered from Pit's Final Smash and was coming their way. "Yeah. No problem." Pit charged at the zombie-like monster, ducking to avoid another swipe from the chainsaw before taking to the air and landing on his shoulders. While Chainsaw Guy tried to reach up and destroy the pesky angel, Rinku went in with his sword and pulled off a spin attack that effectively sliced through the giant's legs and brought him to his knees. Chainsaw Guy groaned angrily and turned his weapon back onto Rinku, but now that he was eye-level with the Hero of Time, it was relatively easier to dodge his attacks and quickly take out his weapon with a precise hit to the chainsaw's motor.

"That was...gruesome," Pit muttered as he jumped down, unable to bring himself to even look at the damage Rinku had done to Chainsaw Guy's legs.

"At least he won't be a problem anymore," Rinku answered with a nonchalant shrug. "Did you find a weakness for Pyramid Head yet?"

"None. Should we hack his legs off, too?"

"I don't see why not."

"I was joking!"

"Well, I'm not. What else are we going to do?"

"I don't know..." Pit admitted.

"Exactly! So let's chop his legs off!" Rinku said, not even trying to mask the excitement in his voice.

"Fine...Sadist," Pit shook his head, following Rinku as he more than happily sauntered toward the super creepy monster.

The two heroes still had a decent sized gap between themselves and Pyramid Head when they heard a loud scream of, "Stand back, you two!" just before a fiery explosion blasted through the wall, effectively destroying Pyramid Head before the heroes could get to him. When Rinku and Pit looked out the gaping hole left in the wall from the explosion, they saw Snake dangling on a rope ladder suspended from a helicopter with a grenade launcher in one hand and a fresh round of explosives in the other. He was using his Final Smash, Grenade Launcher. He smirked at the two heroes before directing his gaze toward the ground and yelling, "It's all you!" before he gestured for the copter to take him down to blow holes in the rest of the floors.

Moments later, Yoshi, with Mario on his back, came flying through the hole in the wall and destroyed what was left of Chainsaw Guy with a fireball before he dropped off Mario and flew back out to assist the others as long as his Final Smash was still activated. "Hello. Wow, you two look terrible."

"How did you guys get here so fast?"

"You're not going to like the answer..." At that moment, the Eggplant Wizard trio and roughly nine Skedar came charging into the hallway, but before they could reach the heroes, Mario unleashed his Final Smash, the Mario Finale, and burned them to cinders. "Jerks... Anyways... We didn't wait for the signal. We were going to, but Toon Link suddenly got sick and collapsed, so we figured something was happening to Link. We decided to hurry over and help out so you guys could get to him before it was too late."

"What?" Pit turned to look at Rinku, who looked just as mortified as he felt. "That's what happened while you were fighting Chainsaw Guy, isn't it? Why didn't you say something sooner?"

"Didn't want to distract you from the fight... How is Toonie doing now?"

"You can see for yourself in a moment. Peach has him, and she's on her way here, even as we speak. We figured you could use the peaches from her Final Smash to recover. Just watch out. Since Toon Link passed out, she's been a little-"

"Get the hell out of my way, asshole!"

"-upset."

Peach barged her way into the hallway, the contrast of the unfortunate Skedar she was dragging behind her to the gentle way she was cradling Toon Link a bit surprising. Even more surprising, however, was how horrible Toon Link was looking. Compared to earlier, when only his arm was transparent, his entire body had turned see-through, allowing the others to clearly see the intricate patterns of Peach's dress through the child's skin. Pit tentatively walked over to the princess and reached down to push Toon Link's bangs out of his face. His hand phased right through him, and Pit retracted it quickly, mortified. Peach flinched, fighting down tears.

"Peach, you need to use your Final Smash. It's the only way you can help Pit save Toon Link," Mario said softly. The princess nodded, passing Toon Link off to Mario and wiping away her tears before she glowed a light blue and began the dance that would summon her Final Smash. Since none of the Smashers were her enemies, none of them fell asleep as they usually did when the peaches began falling all around them, and as soon as Peach finished her dance, Pit and Rinku each grabbed a peach and ate it. Their wounds were instantly healed, and their stamina was raised back to its original level.

"Thank you, Peach. Don't worry. We'll save Link and Toon Link, okay?"

"Thank you," Peach whispered, grabbing Toon Link back from Mario and hugging him.

Pit felt his heart break. He wanted to say something else, but all he could think of was, "Everyone's weapons are in that room right there. Good luck."

Mario smirked, "You're the ones who need all the good luck. We're all rooting for you two."

"Will you be fine on your own?"

"All we have are small fries to deal with. We can handle these losers."

"Okay. Are you ready, Rinku?"

"Yeah."

"We'll see you guys later, then," Pit and Rinku ran to the other end of the hallway, coming upon the last set of stairs leading to the final floor. Fueled by both anger and adrenaline, the two heroes reached the top in a matter of seconds and stormed into the hallway. It was more ornate than any of the others, and, unlike before, there were no monsters around. "Which room do you think they'll be in?" Pit asked quietly.

"Based on experience, the largest door is usually where the final boss is hiding." As cliched as it was, the largest door was the one at the farthest end of the hallway, and when the heroes found it and opened it, they found themselves entering a massive throne room lit only by a few candles and a couple of small windows. It was quiet enough that the two heroes could hear their friends down on the floors beneath them. They both jumped slightly when the door slammed shut and the room suddenly grew completely dark, and they both unsheathed their swords as they heard footsteps approach them.

"Well, this is a surprise. You two made it here alive, and, amazingly enough, unscathed. I'm genuinely impressed. Ah, and where are my manners? Welcome back, O Great Hero of Time. How long's it been since your death? Fifty? Seventy years?"

"Eighty-six, but who's counting? How many times have you tried to take over the world since I died, Ganondorf?"

"Just three. I do have other hobbies to tend to, you know. And, Pit, have you ever dressed like a woman before today? The look certainly suited you."

"Quit messing around. You know we're not here to make small talk. Where's Diabolus Angelus?"

"Oh, you mean... You two haven't heard?"

"Heard what?"

Ganondorf snapped his fingers, causing the room to brighten and give the heroes their first good glimpse of the room they would soon be battling in. For the most part, it looked like an ordinary throne room other than the large cauldron seated in front of the throne, but upon closer inspection, the heroes noticed signs that a struggle had recently taken place in there; the curtains behind the throne had been torn, broken bottles and glasses were strewn everywhere, and there was a bloody knife lying just in front of the cauldron. But what really struck the two heroes and nearly made Pit's heart stop was the body lying off to one side of the room-Link's body. There was a deep slit in his wrist which was still oozing blood, but most shocking off all was the lack of black markings all over his body and the fact that his half-lidded eyes were blue instead of red.

Link wasn't the one who was possessed anymore.

"That's right, Pit," Ganondorf said with a proud, devilish smirk. The angel lifted his eyes to meet the King of Evil's, finding that his eyes had changed from their usual bright orange to blood red. "I found a new host."

**To Be Continued**

**Bonjour, y'all! This is Flock o' Seagulls, and I'm here to tell you I don't own Super Smash Bros., The Legend of Zelda (where the Redeads and Dead Hand came from), Perfect Dark (where the Skedar came from), Silent Hill (where Pyramid Head came from), or Resident Evil (where Dr. Salvador a.k.a. The Chainsaw Guy came from). I suppose I have to mention Family Guy, too, because, I kid you not, this chapter almost ended like this:**

**Pit: Quit messing around. You know we're not here to make small talk. Where's Diabolus Angelus?**

**Ganondorf: Oh, you mean... You two haven't heard?**

**Pit: Heard what?**

**Ganondorf: Bird bird bird! B-Bird's the word! Bird bird bird! The bird is the word! Hey, don't you know about the bird? Everybody knows that the bird is the word! (a spot light comes on, illuminating Ganondorf as he goes into the dance for The Trashmen's song "Surfin Bird". Needless to say, Pit and Rinku are permanently scarred for life.)**

**Anyways...**

**So, Diabolus Angelus seems to have killed Link so that she could take control of Ganondorf. But why? To be honest, I don't know myself. Heh... Sometimes, I have an idea set in my mind, and then a penguin comes along and plants a new, crazier idea in my head and I end up going along with that instead. Like including a bunch of different villains in the story from franchises that only occasionally pop up on a Nintendo console... However, even with that strange change, I believe there are only about three or four chapters left to this story, so I'm pretty excited to be closing in on the ending. Also, thank you for the reviews! I noticed that a few reviewers actually left two reviews, so thank you very much for that! Reviews help give me the drive to type new chapters at a faster pace, so keep them coming, please!**

**With that said, here are the Review Replies:**

**EggplantWitch: I'm soooo sorry! I think I watched so much Death Note that I can't do anything without it being overly complicated! Zelda wasn't possessed; she was taken from the others to become a source of food for Diabolus Angelus, but Rinku saved her before that could happen and he and Satoshi healed her. As for why Roy and Pit are one in the same, it's just a joke I've always harbored that Roy and Pit look a lot alike, so in my opinion, they're obviously somehow one-in-the-same. I worked it into the story by make Pit the reincarnation of Roy after Roy accidentally killed Link (Rinku) and Young Link and then killed himself. And don't feel bad about missing your sanity; it's not your fault at all; it's penuins! As for the yaoi, it isn't so much that Pit and Link really have that kind of relationship; it's just that Peach happened to take the right pictures at the right time to make it look like they were doing naughty stuff together. Link is really in some sort of relationship with Zelda while Pit pledges all his love to Palutena. I actually started this story with a pure heart (kind of. I've been a sadist since I was four. I just wasn't into yaoi.) When I got into yaoi, I promised myself that since this story started out without yaoi, it would end without any of the male characters hooking up with each other... but I couldn't resist blackmailing Pit with yaoi, so I'm sorry that you saw it as Pit and Link hooking up and Peach catching the evidence. They aren't that way here!**

**riverraiden: Hiya! You actually gave me the idea of calling the minions Dia Clones by referring to Diabolus Angelus as Dia. I never would have thought of that myself, so thank you. How did she find Pit so fast? Probably the same way Ganondorf did. The important thing is that they both decided to let him get away with being "Pitunia" until Resetti showed up and ruined everything. And I'm starting to think Pit has some sort of complex; he seems to constantly go back and forth between his "You can't defeat me!" attitude to "I'm done for...Ugh!" where he gets all angsty. I've never played or heard of Super Smash Flash before, but I was wondering: where would Zelda/Sheik end up in your categories? Since Zelda has a good recovery move, but Sheik is often better for the actual fighting, I was wondering.**

**iMelinda: Don't strangle poor Linky! He's already dead! Or is he? Whether he is or not, strangle Mr. Resetti instead! He's the one who blew Pit's cover; Ganondorf and Diabolus Angelus were totally fine with letting him wander around in drag for a few cheap laughs. Ugh...Next up is a battle scene, which I still don't enjoy, either, but I guess if you think they're decent, then I'll put on a brave face and make it look as nice as I can. Wish me luck!**

**Captain Black Knight: Unfortunately, Pit's enjoyable stint as "Pitunia" has come to a close, and now it looks like Link is dead. Why do I get so much joy out of torturing him? As I've mentioned before, I based Diabolus Angelus off of both Wicked Lady from Sailor Moon and Terra from an episode of Charmed, so the fact that she could see Link in the mirror instead of her true form is because Terra talked to Piper through her reflection on Charmed, and I thought that was a cool idea. As for the great debate of "What the Heck is Sheik's Gender?" I have found a fool-proof way of finding out for sure: using currently unavailable technology, we zap ourselves into "The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time," preferrably either the N64 or one of the GCN versions because they didn't add curves to make Sheik look more feminine. When Sheik and Link are knocked out in Kakariko Village, we run over to Sheik and "take a little peek" to find out the truth... Granted, this would be super creepy, but it's the only way to find out for sure! I only say Link and Sheik are a yaoi pairing because Link was convinced Sheik was a man in the manga, yet he got all flustered when he fixed Sheik's face wrap. We could test this, too, by seeing how Link's brain reacts to first female pheromones and then male pheromones (we actually have the technology for this one), and depending on the answer, Link either believed Sheik was a boy and reacted as such, or the pheromones Sheik gives off are feminine, and Link's brain told his body to react as such without telling him ...Even I'm sort of confused right now.**

**And done! Next up, we'll have the big fight everyone's been waiting for as Pit and Rinku go up against Diabolus Angelus! Will the heroes win and be able to save Link? Tune in next time to find out!**

**And read and review, please! ^_^**


	17. Chapter 17

What the hell had it all been for? He'd risked and even lost his life and endured psychological torment that could make even the most hardened criminal crack, but in the end it had all been for nothing?

Pit's vision started to swim as he stared into Diabolus Angelus's hateful red eyes, not daring to glance at Link again. This certainly explained why Toon Link was starting to disappear and Rinku had been growing weaker; with Link dead, both of them were doomed to vanish, one erased from history while the other, without a body to return to, would be forced through the reincarnation cycle. And poor Link... How much suffering had Diabolus Angelus put him through before finally letting him die? Considering that his wrist had been slit, she'd probably let him slowly bleed to death so that she could savor every moment of watching the Hero of Twilight suffer in his final moments. The mere thought of it was making Pit's blood boil.

"You lied to us," Rinku said, breaking Diabolus Angelus and Pit from their stand-off. To Pit's surprise, Rinku didn't look even the least bit furious or even worried about his reincarnation's apparent death. In fact, he was smiling smugly at the possessed King of Evil.

"Oh really?"

"You said you have to kill your victim in order to...dispossess him, for lack of a better word. As far as I can tell, Link is still alive. How did you pull that one off?"

"H-He is? Really?" Pit finally worked up the courage to look at Link again, but try as he might, he couldn't find a single sign that the hero was still alive. He didn't appear to be breathing, and he didn't blink at all in the time Pit spent watching him. Then it finally hit him; while Rinku had taken the form of the Hero of Time, he was still part of Link's soul. If Link was really dead, Rinku would have died with him, just like Toon Link.

"You caught me. Such a shame, really. I was hoping to make Pit cry again over poor, innocent, little Linky," Diabolus Angelus sighed with a small shrug. The gesture struck Pit as kind of odd, since Ganondorf didn't seem like the shrugging type. "I don't have to kill someone entirely to 'dispossess them,' although, that was sort of my plan to begin with. See, Ganondorf wasn't too happy with the idea of me taking control of his body, so we got into a bit of a skirmish, and, wouldn't you know it, he used magic to kill Link's body but leave his brain intact, thinking that I'd be trapped there if he did. As you can plainly see, that plan completely backfired on him, so all he accomplished was putting Link in a coma of sorts. Of course, he'll probably be dying pretty soon; he's only been like this for about four minutes. Give him a couple more, and his brain will die from oxygen depletion...or he'll finally bleed to death like I was expecting him to before Ganondorf fought me. Either or."

"That's too bad," Rinku said, his voice dripping with sarcasm. Without warning, he swung his sword toward the glowing chink in Diabolus Angelus's armor, which just happened to be one of Ganondorf's two major weak points. The possessed Demon Lord just barely managed to dodge the strike, his large size making him harder to maneuver for the evil spirit than Link. "Too bad for you, anyway. You couldn't have picked an easier target than Ganondorf if you tried. At least in Link's body, you had the advantage of using his memories to toy with us. Not to mention that we have nothing against him personally. Now, there's no reason for us to hold back!"

Rinku swung his sword back around, managing to strike the demon's side. The attack wasn't enough to hurt her, but it did throw her off balance, giving Rinku the time he needed to knock her onto her back and bring his sword down toward her weak point again. She managed to block the blow with her hands, but in spite of her larger size and greater muscle mass, Rinku had the more favorable angle and was eventually able to push past her hands and deliver a crushing blow to her weak spot. As with Ganondorf himself, the single successful strike wasn't enough to kill her, but it did distract her enough to give Rinku the time he needed to reach into his item bag, pull out a bottled Fairy Spirit, and toss it to Pit.

"Use this on Link, then go find the Holy Arrow. I've got a bad feeling that we still need it."

"No problem."

At that moment, Diabolus Angelus recovered from Rinku's attack and drew Ganondorf's sword. She lunged at the Hero of Time, their swords meeting halfway between them for the infamous "Chance" attack that Ganondorf had engaged Link in during their final battle a year earlier. While the two Triforce wielders were locked in combat, Pit took the opportunity to run to Link's side, uncork the bottle, and release the Fairy Spirit over the mortally wounded hero. He watched carefully as the fairy circled over Link's body multiple times until its healing magic finally closed the wound in Link's wrist and restored his skin from the pale hue it had taken on in death to its regular healthy tan before the fairy disappeared. Immediately, Pit kneeled down and placed a hand over Link's chest, but he wasn't able to find either a heartbeat or any signs of breathing.

Were they too late? Pit's breath hitched as the morbid idea entered his mind, and he leaned over to place his ear over Link's heart, hoping that his ears would be more sensitive to a weaker heartbeat than his hands. He'd barely positioned himself correctly when Link gasped sharply, startling the angel into an upright position. Pit lost himself in the joy he felt as Link became consumed by a coughing fit caused by the sudden return of his ability to breathe, but his happiness quickly deteriorated when Link just as suddenly stilled, much as he had right after Diabolus Angelus first possessed him.

Pit grabbed both of Link's shoulders and pulled him into a sitting position, but this only made his distress over his friend's obvious lack of good health worse as Link weakly fell against Pit's chest the second the angel's hands left his shoulders. "Link...?" The angel gently pried Link away from him, holding him in an upright position at arm's length. "Link?"

"Link's fine for now, Pit!" Rinku yelled from across the throne room, startling Pit. When he turned to look at the Hero of Time, he found him still locked together with Ganondorf in their battle of strength. "Go find the Holy Arrow, now! Before we actually need it!"

"R-Right..." Pit turned his gaze back to Link, realizing that there was a pretty good chance of the fight moving to his current location and that he should probably be moved before Pit left. Slinging Link's arm over his shoulder and wrapping his own arm around Link's waist, the angel flew them to the farthest corner of the throne room with the hope that the fight wouldn't carry Rinku and Diabolus Angelus that far. He propped Link up against the wall as gently as possible, and for the first time he finally got to see what sort of crazy outfit Diabolus Angelus had picked out to replace the tunic Pit himself was currently wearing. It was almost the male equivalent to the outfit Pit had been stuck in for a while- a black vest with a collar, zipped all the way up, loose black pants, and combat boots. The look struck Pit as a little odd, but then again, he felt it made Link look better than his tunic did, or, at the very least, it made him look less like some sort of medieval cross dresser.

Pit found himself wondering whether or not Link was aware that he'd been forced into this outfit, which lead Pit to realize that he had no clue whether or not Link was aware of any of the horrible deeds Diabolus Angelus had committed using his body, like how she'd used him to trick Pit into killing himself, or that Zelda had almost been sacrificed to her, or if he was even aware that Diabolus Angelus had actually killed him in order to take over Ganondorf instead. A large part of him hoped that Link wasn't aware of what Diabolus Angelus had done using his body; Link was a good enough person that he would see the blame as his for the crimes she committed against his friends, and Pit shuddered to imagine what sort of memories Link might hold about Diabolus Angelus killing him.

"I'll make her pay for everything she did to you, but first I need to help Rin- uh, the Hero of Time- by getting the Holy Arrow back. I'll be back soon." Pit scrambled to his feet, taking one final look at his unconscious friend before carefully making his way back to the door. Luckily for Pit, the door hadn't locked as it would have if they were in Hyrule, and he managed to slip back into the hallway.

"About time," Rinku muttered. Now that he didn't have to worry about keeping Diabolus Angelus busy to protect Pit from an ambush, he finally overpowered his possessed nemesis, knocking Diabolus Angelus off balance and delivering three quick, consecutive strikes to her weak point before she was able to recover, knock Rinku's sword away with her own, and thrust her sword forward. Rinku managed to dodge to the side and avoid sustaining any heavy damage, although the attack grazed his hip. Rinku shuddered when he realized where she'd actually been aiming. "Didn't anyone ever teach you that it's bad manners to attack a man below the belt?"

"I always learned that when a man attacks you, you should aim for his most vulnerable areas."

"Is that so?" Rinku ducked below another swipe from Diabolus Angelus's sword, bringing his own up for another successful hit to his enemy's weak spot. "Then from one man to another, no hard feelings."

"Cute. Ganon missed this, you know. The witty banter, the life or death struggles. Link and that little brat never quite met his expectations the way you do. I think he missed you."

"That's pretty funny when you consider that Link and Toonie beat him just as easily as I did, maybe even easier. Which reminds me: what made you decide to move from Link's body to Ganondorf's, anyway? You should know for a fact that Ganondorf isn't nearly as strong or as swift as Link is. Why pick the weaker host body?"

"Isn't it obvious? I'm sure you have all of Link's memories, just as I did before. That's where I got this idea, after all. Think about it. What happened just before Linky and Ganny fought for the very first time? Maybe this will jog your memory," Diabolus Angelus turned toward Link, holding her hand in front of her so that it appeared that she was holding the unconscious hero in the palm of her hand. "Deny me, then! Yes, try to deny me... You and your little friend."

Rinku paled as Diabolus Angelus's true intentions finally dawned on him, but just a second later, the panic that had filled his mind was replaced by rage, "Bitch... I won't let you use Link for your sick schemes anymore."

"We'll see about that, hero," Diabolus Angelus grinned, making Rinku's blood boil. With an angry snarl that actually gave Diabolus Angelus chills, Rinku charged his sword with magic for his strongest technique- The Hyper Dash Attack. With his sword covered in fire, Rinku charged at Diabolus Angelus, slamming her back into the wall while his sword broke through her armor and ran right through her stomach and out her back on the other side.

"Oh, dear. That's not your heart," Rinku muttered with mock concern. He twisted his sword back and forth, making Diabolus Angelus grimace as her blood quickly oozed down the hilt of the sword and onto Rinku's hands.

It appeared that she could have easily bled to death right then and there if only Pit hadn't returned at that very moment with the quiver containing his precious Holy Arrow in hand, shouting excitedly, "Rinku, I got it!"

Rinku turned to look at the angel for only a fraction of a second, but it was more than enough time for Diabolus Angelus to knee the hero as hard as she could in the gut, making him double over in pain while she removed the sword from her stomach and held it up to inspect it. "Well, well. How unusual. You aren't using the Master Sword; although, this is a magical sword meant to be used against Ganondorf," Diabolus Angelus paused when the Triforce of Power began glowing on the back of her hand, its magic healing her wounds. "Hmm... It's actually a shame that Ganondorf can heal himself. I would love to see the mortified look on your face if I stole your life force in this body," Diabolus Angelus smirked, crouching down to be eye-level with Rinku and using her index finger to lift his chin so that she could see the disgusted look on his face mixed with the pain from her attack. She watched his eyes trail down to rest on his sword, still clutched in Diabolus Angelus's hand, so she lifted it up with the tip directed toward Rinku's heart. "Oh, right. You can have your sword back now," Diabolus Angelus thrust the sword through Rinku's chest, relishing in the agonized scream that filled the room as she did and the puddle of blood that slowly expanded beneath her feet as she stood and left the hero to die.

"Rinku!" Pit screamed as he rushed to his friend's aid. Pit didn't even register that he'd just run past Diabolus Angelus without also facing her wrath, nor did he notice that she was heading toward the corner where Pit had placed Link as he crouched beside Rinku and reached to pull the sword from his chest.

Rinku, however, did notice. He shoved Pit away before the angel could remove the sword, knowing that he would most likely hemorrhage to death the moment his wound was fully opened, and shakily pointed Pit toward Link's location. "We can worry about me later. Your top priority is to keep Diabolus Angelus away from Link. She possessed Ganondorf so that she could use his powers to take control of Link and switch between their bodies as needed."

"You mean Ganondorf can possess people, too?"

"Yeah. The first time Link ever fought Ganondorf, he possessed Zelda's body and used her as his puppet. Back then, Zelda had transferred her powers and her soul to one of Link's friends to save her life, leaving Zelda unconscious and vulnerable in the process. It's an unlucky coincidence that Link is in the same sort of predicame-" Rinku shuddered, putting all his will-power into resisting the instinctive urge to remove the sword himself. "Now hurry the hell up before it's too damn late to stop her!"

Pit quickly stood and turned away from Rinku, reaching into his item bag and pulling out the Hero's Bow. He lifted the Holy Arrow from its quiver and loaded it onto the bow, aiming for Diabolus Angelus's heart and praying that the arrow would hit its mark. As soon as Pit had his target locked, the true extent of the arrow's power finally revealed itself; the Holy Arrow glowed so brilliantly that Pit could no longer see, and he could swear that he heard some sort of angelic choir singing as he let the arrow fly toward his target.

The arrow took off like a shooting star, and as soon as it was halfway across the room, Pit was able to see again and watch it head straight toward its target. A beam of light began growing on the wall just above Link's head as the arrow grew closer to Diabolus Angelus's body, and as the demon turned to see where the light was coming from, Pit's entire body turned as cold as ice when he saw the confident smirk plastered on her face.

The moment the arrow came into contact with Diabolus Angelus's body, she melted into hundreds of strange black squares while the arrow flew by and embedded itself in the wall just above Link's head. As soon as the light from the arrow had died down, the black squares flew into Link's body, and in moments black markings were slowly reappearing on Link's skin. It would only be a matter of seconds before Link was fully under Diabolus Angelus's control again.

Pit gnashed his teeth together as his frustration mounted, and before Rinku could stop him, the angel took off running toward where Link was resting. It immediately reminded Rinku of Midna's attempt to save Zelda after Ganondorf possessed her a year earlier; she'd wanted to attack Ganondorf while he was still unconscious, but when she saw Zelda's face, she'd completely lost her resolve, leaving her wide open for Ganondorf to attack her and then go after Link. Midna had barely known Zelda; what did that say about Pit, who'd known Link for months and considered him to be his best friend?

Needless to say, Rinku was impressed and more than a little shocked when he saw Pit ignore Link and go straight for the Holy Arrow, pulling it out of the wall and inspecting the arrow for any breaks before crouching in front of Link with the arrow poised over Link's heart for an instant kill. "I'm sorry, Link..." Pit whispered softly. He closed his eyes and turned his head away as he pulled the arrow back slightly to put some force behind the fatal blow...

"No, Pit. I'm sorry," Diabolus Angelus said darkly, placing her hand against the angel's stomach. Pit gasped, opening his eyes just in time to see her own red eyes glaring maliciously at him in place of his best friend's before she shot him in the stomach with a wave of energy and sent him flying back across the room. Pit's back slammed against the wall with enough force that his body actually dented it before he fell to the floor beside Rinku, moaning in agony. His wings had taken the brunt of the damage, leaving them broken in several places and virtually useless.

Before Rinku could try to help him, Diabolus Angelus stood and waved her arm to the right, slamming Rinku into the wall to his left as a result. "Don't try to interfere, hero. I still have a little unfinished business with angel boy here. After that, I'm all yours," Diabolus Angelus smirked, watching Rinku crumble weakly to the floor before turning her sights on Pit.

The angel shuddered as he helplessly watched Diabolus Angelus close the short distance between them and kneel in front of him. She placed a hand against one of the angel's wings with a surprising amount of tenderness, although the pain that shot through Pit's body as she gently caressed the broken appendage was just as bad as a knife in the back.

"Oh, poor, little Pity. Are your wings broken again? Those ridiculous things have really turned out to be a hindrance for you, haven't they? So, what do you say I do us all a favor..." Diabolus Angelus wrapped her hand around the base of Pit's left wing, squeezing it with just enough pressure that Pit couldn't suppress a small whimper over the pain it sent shooting up and down his spine, "...and destroy them for you?"

Pit gasped, his entire being consumed by fear when he attempted to escape from Diabolus Angelus's grasp, only to be subjected to more pain as a result. Diabolus Angelus just smirked at Pit's pathetic attempt to flee and tightened her grip on the abused wing, wringing it back and forth as if she were draining the water out of a wash cloth and managing to get an agonized scream from her victim in the process.

"Oh, quit your bellyaching! I've barely even touched you yet," Diabolus Angelus tugged the wing toward her, lifting Pit into a kneeling position and causing blood to slowly trickle down the angel's back as the skin connecting his wing to his back was stretched to its breaking point. Tears filled Pit's eyes as Diabolus Angelus pulled him to his feet and grabbed onto his other wing, tugging it away from Pit's back just as mercilessly as she was its twin. The sting was twice as bad in this wing, and Pit couldn't contain the scream that filled the room as his wing was almost completely severed from his back, clinging on by only a quarter of an inch of skin. Pit didn't need to ponder why the skin connecting his right wing to his back had been so much weaker than the left; as he recalled, Luigi had also tugged on his right wing in a similar, sadistic manner just over a day ago during the fight with Serguei the giant Rabbid in Luigi's mansion. Obviously, it hadn't had time to heal since then.

"Eww...That has got to hurt. Let me just..." Diabolus Angelus twisted the wing further before forcefully tugging on it again, managing to rip apart the last of the delicate skin and completely sever Pit's right wing from his body. The blood-curdling scream that issued from Pit's small frame filled Rinku with rage as he watched Diabolus Angelus dangle the severed body part in front of her victim's eyes with a disturbing smile on her face. The Hero of Time attempted to get back on his feet and assist his injured friend, but the second he tried to lift himself off the floor, the Magic Sword would slide ever so slightly out of its wound and send several large globs of blood all over the floor beneath him. Rinku groaned in frustration, watching helplessly as Diabolus Angelus kicked Pit to the floor, all the while keeping a painful grip on the angel's only remaining wing. If Rinku didn't do something soon, Pit would die of blood loss when Diabolus Angelus ripped his other wing out; however, in order to get to Pit, Rinku had to remove the sword from his body, which in turn would kill him as his blood hemorrhaged out of his body.

It was a lose-lose situation... unless Rinku utilized his trump card.

The Hero of Time fingered the inside pocket of his tunic, where he'd previously kept the Ocarina of Time until its untimely destruction at the hands of Mr. Resetti. He'd hoped that it wouldn't come to this; fighting one relic of pure evil with another had never been a very appealing idea to Rinku, even as a child, when this item had come into his possession, but if he wanted to save Pit and Link in his condition, it was his only remaining option. With one final glance at Pit, Rinku lifted himself into a kneeling position and pulled the Magic Sword from his body. As expected, blood quickly poured from the wound, but this would no longer be a problem in just a few seconds. Rinku sighed, pulling what appeared to be a mask made to resemble his own face but with war paint and white hair from his pocket and putting it on. The familiar yet agonizing pain that came from donning a transformation mask rippled through Rinku's entire body as the Fierce Deity Mask fused itself to his face and sent its magic throughout his body, but just a second later, the pain was gone, leaving Rinku in his ultimate yet evil form, Oni-Link. Other than a few minor swapped colors to his clothing- his tunic went from green to a pale blue, his shirt and tights under the tunic changed from white to black, his gauntlets turned blue, and his hair turned white- the only major difference between Rinku's regular form and Oni-Link's were a rather substantial height change (nearly two feet added to his height), some armor fitted over his tunic, and the fact that his face has changed to match the mask's, making his eyes entirely white and as motionless as the rest of his paint covered face.

As always, the complimentary sword that came with the transformation appeared in Rinku's hands, and he turned it on Diabolus Angelus and charged it with just a small sample of the sword's magic. It was time to get a little payback against that opportunistic bitch. Rinku swung the sword and sent a disk of green energy flying at Diabolus Angelus, striking her in the left shoulder and causing her to drop Pit as her entire body became momentarily paralyzed by the sword's magic. Rinku casually sauntered over to Pit, finding him doubled over in pain with his left arm weakly wrapped around the front of his torso so that his fingers just barely grazed the bloody, gaping hole where his right wing had been only moments before. Tears and heart-rending sobs gave testament to just how much pain Pit was in at that instant, so Rinku was incredibly careful when he kneeled beside Pit and rubbed the angel's back in small, gentle circles.

"I know you're in a lot of pain right now, but do you think you can still fight?" Pit didn't speak, but the incredulous look in his eyes said that he couldn't believe that Rinku would even think to ask that of him. The hero understood and quickly explained, "I can't use a bow while I'm in this form; you'll have to be the one who shoots her with the arrow when the opportunity arises. Other than that, all I'm asking is that you watch my back. Can you handle that?"

Pit shivered when he noticed that Rinku's mouth wasn't moving as he spoke and that his entire face was actually frozen in a menacing expression, prompting him to finally notice that his friend had transformed into an evil god while Pit was being subjected to unimaginable torture. Pit had never felt so much evil emanate off of a single person before in his entire life, but he could still clearly see and hear Rinku beneath the menacing deity's exterior. That was why Pit gave a small but unmistakable nod and allowed Rinku to pull him to his feet and undo the belt holding the Master Sword and Hylian Shield to Pit's injured back. Pit couldn't help but notice that the parts of the shield that had been on the right side of his body were literally drenched in blood; Pit couldn't even see the corresponding half of the Triforce and eagle insignias on the shield's face anymore, and the sight of it made him feel a little nauseous as Rinku offered the weapons for him to take. The angel unsheathed the sword and placed the shield on his right arm before Rinku tossed the belt aside, and Pit placed the Holy Arrow and Hero's Bow in his item bag for safe-keeping until the time to use them was at hand again, which, according to Rinku, would preferably be during a moment that Diabolus Angelus was in Link's body, since Link couldn't teleport or decorporealize like Ganondorf. Now, they just needed to weaken her enough that she wouldn't be able to get away while Pit shot the arrow. Easier said than done, in Pit's opinion.

"That was quite a surprise. Ganondorf never mentioned that you had that sort of power hidden up your sleeve," Diabolus Angelus muttered, having finally recovered from her paralysis. The two heroes could easily see that the point of impact from Rinku's attack was bleeding profusely with no sign of stopping. At least this meant that she couldn't heal herself in Link's body unless she stole energy from Rinku and Pit, and, judging by the power Rinku was packing with the Fierce Deity Mask on, that was going to prove to be quite a challenge for her.

"That's only because I never bothered wasting it on him. You should feel pretty honored, actually. I only use the Fierce Deity Mask as a last resort. The only other monster I ever fought in this form was Majora's Mask."

"And you decided that I was enough of a threat for you to use it against me? I'm flattered. Too bad it won't do you much good," Diabolus Angelus waved her arm to the right again, expecting the same result as before, but rather than fly across the room, Rinku stood his ground, deflecting the attack with his Double-Helix Sword with ease.

"You were saying?" he jeered.

Diabolus Angelus held the Hero of Time's gaze, her expression neither angry nor upset. "Well, this might be a little harder than I expected," Without breaking eye contact with Rinku, Diabolus Angelus held open her right hand, and before Pit's eyes, Rinku's abandoned Magic Sword lifted off of the floor and flew into her hand, "but I like a challenge."

It seemed to Pit that he'd blinked and managed to miss something because the next thing he knew, Diabolus Angelus was a mere three feet away from his position, her sword caught in one of the two loops of Rinku's. Pit had the good sense to back away from the two "devils" and wait out the fight until it was time for him to help. As it turns out, that moment was coming sooner than Pit had anticipated; Rinku charged his sword with magic in the hopes of delivering another paralyzing shock to Diabolus Angelus's body, but before he could channel the magic from his sword to hers, she suddenly collapsed to the ground, the Magic Sword falling uselessly to the ground beside Link's suddenly vacant body.

"And so it begins..." Rinku huffed. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Ganondorf's hulking form corporealize to his left, but before he could turn around to face the possessed Demon Lord, Pit beat him to the punch, striking Diabolus Angelus in the back- Ganondorf's other weak point- and thereby stunning her so that Rinku was able to strike her in the chest. Pit moved to finish her off with a good, old-fashioned decapitation, but the moment he swung his sword, Diabolus Angelus dissolved into black squares again and flew back into Link's unconscious body. It didn't take her nearly as long to take control of Link's body as it had the last time- or the time before that, for that matter- meaning that Link's ability to fight her off was growing weaker with each possession.

"Two big, strong men against one poor, little girl? That's hardly fair," Diabolus Angelus muttered crossly as she got to her feet. She lifted her left hand, forming a small fireball just above her palm. Pit knew that she was more likely to go after him than she was Rinku, but he wasn't able to shield himself in time as the fireball hurtled across the room and struck Pit in the stomach, knocking him back against the wall with a startled yelp. His already broken wing was flattened against the wall like a folding fan, causing Pit to feel several new breaks in the delicate bones in addition to the new, flaring pain in his abdomen as fresh blood dotted the already ruined tunic, most of it coming directly from the wound, but a few drops falling from Pit's slightly parted lips.

The angel's vision blurred as Rinku, enraged that Diabolus Angelus had chosen to attack poor, injured Pit instead of himself, charged at her, managing to slice her an injury that matched Pit's and, therefore, paralyzing her again. Rinku turned to instruct Pit that this was the perfect moment to fire the arrow, but when he saw Pit's sorry form slide down the wall into a sitting position and the thick trail of blood he left in his wake, defeating Diabolus Angelus became only a trivial matter. Rinku ran to Pit's side, where it became instantly clear that Pit was fighting to stay awake in spite of the fatigue and blood loss plaguing his small form. When his unfocused eyes were actually open, Rinku could see that they were slightly glazed over as if death had already claimed him.

Rinku suppressed a small shiver as he grabbed Pit's bloody shoulders, shaking Pit with just enough force to keep him awake. "Come on, Pit. Don't fall asleep just yet. Stay with me, just a little longer..."

Pit moaned quietly, something about Rinku's soft pleas striking Pit with a nostalgia that was painful yet heartwarming all at the same time. His thoughts went back to the aftermath of his attempt to take down Tabuu during the Subspace Emissary, and as he dwelled on it, Pit realized that he'd basically lived the exact same thing before, when Tabuu had broken his wings and that it was Link who'd pleaded with Pit to stay awake until they were both treated for their injuries. Pit was so immersed in realizing the unusual coincidence that he wasn't brought back to himself until he got the shock of seeing Rinku suddenly crumble to the floor in front of him and, when he looked up, Diabolus Angelus's smug grin. In her left hand she was clutching her abdomen, where Rinku had inflicted his last wound upon her, while in her right hand rested the hilt of Rinku's Magic Sword. The actual blade itself was embedded in Rinku's back.

"Well, that's a relief. After seeing you deflect my telekinesis like that, I thought for sure that you were impervious or something," Diabolus Angelus jiggled the sword back and forth until it finally broke free. "Luckily, it appears that you aren't." Diabolus Angelus caught Pit's gaze and muttered coldly, "And then, there was one."

Pit attempted to compress himself against the wall in as small of a ball as he could manage, but this did nothing to save him when Diabolus Angelus casually stepped over Rinku's unmoving body and crossed to Pit's side. She crouched so that they were eye-level, but Pit refused to make eye contact with her again, even when she wrapped her hand around his throat and squeezed until his face started to turn blue.

"You know, I really have to hand it to you, Pit. I'd never have imagined in my wildest dreams that you would last as long as you did. What, with everything I threw at you and all... The Creature with his Custom Stage of Death; a potential lifetime behind bars to serve as a tasty snack from time to time; all of my cute, little cloans; your old friend, the Eggplant Wizard; even a couple of supernatural killers. You're like the heroine of one of those trashy horror novels Link likes to read, and I'm the bad guy slasher who's out to kill you. I come after you again and again, yet every time, you somehow manage to escape until our final confrontation. Then," Diabolus Angelus pressed the Magic Sword to the bottom of the angel's chin, and Pit flinched, "I get to cut you to ribbons."

"That's funny; I may not know much about the human world, but I'm pretty sure that it's the bad guy who loses in the end," Pit quipped weakly.

"Is that right? Well, sorry to break it to you, but as far as I can see," Diabolus Angelus gently dragged the bloody tip of the Magic Sword from the base of Pit's chin to the center of Pit's forehead, not pressing hard enough to leave a mark yet leaving a thin trail of Rinku's blood in the sword's wake, "that's not even remotely possible."

"You must not be looking in the right place, then," Pit muttered. He lifted his left hand for Diabolus Angelus to see, revealing the Master Sword still clutched in his weak grip. Diabolus Angelus's eyes widened at the sight of the Blade of Evil's Bane, but no matter how admirable her attempt to escape was, she was too close to Pit to dodge the attack as the angel drove the sacred blade through her sternum. There was a loud crack as the bone shattered under such intense pressure, and Diabolus Angelus's scream was one of pure agony, both from the magic of the sword and the pain rippling through her chest. Pit's heart filled with a very brief guilt since Diabolus Angelus's voice was actually Link's, but he pushed his guilt aside when Diabolus Angelus released him. He didn't pull the Master Sword back out from the gaping hole in her chest; as far as Pit was concerned, she deserved a little extra agony in return for all of the suffering she had inflicted upon the Smashers.

A soft moan, barely audible over Diabolus Angelus's continued screaming, alerted Pit of Rinku's return to consciousness, so the angel slowly dragged himself to his feet and sidestepped the injured monster to find Rinku returned to a sitting position. The Hero of Time nodded in Pit's general direction; whether or not he was actually looking at him was anyone's guess behind those blank eyes. "Nicely done. I'm sorry I wasn't much help. I have a stronger resistance to magic in this form, but physical attacks can still take their toll on me. Some aid I was to you."

"Are you kidding? I'd have died trying that if you hadn't hurt her first. I owe you my life," Pit offered his hand to Rinku to help pull him up- how he would be able to support their combined weight in his state obviously hadn't been thought out very well- but Rinku gently pushed Pit's hand away and got back on his feet just fine on his own. He then lifted his hands to the sides of his face and tugged, and after a bright flash of light momentarily blinded Pit, he saw that Rinku was back in his regular form with the Fierce Deity Mask clenched in both hands. It was promptly returned to the inside pocket of his tunic before he held his hand out toward Pit, palm up. When Pit gave him a quizzical look, Rinku quickly explained himself.

"You've been through enough today; I'll strike the final blow for you. Just give me the arrow, and I'll handle the rest."

Pit continued to stare at Rinku with a blank expression on his face for several seconds- partially out of confusion but mostly because the blood loss had made him light-headed- before he finally reached into his item bag and pulled out the Hero's Bow and Holy Arrow and handed them to Rinku. As Rinku loaded the arrow onto the bow and prepared the kill-shot, Pit found his eyes automatically drawn to Diabolus Angelus. The Master Sword's magic had weakened her enough that she had finally silenced herself and collapsed to her knees. Blood was oozing from the multiple wounds in her body, and Pit would swear on his life that he saw little bits of bone fragment scattered throughout the blood on the floor. Pit shivered and averted his eyes at the sight.

It suddenly occurred to Pit that, while Palutena had more or less guaranteed that Rinku could somehow bring Link back to life after the arrow forced Diabolus Angelus out of his body, there was no guarantee that his wounds would be healed in the process. Link could just bleed out after Rinku saved him, or, Pit feared, Link would survive, but be stuck with some sort of disability because of the fight. No matter which of those outcomes it was, Pit knew that it would be because of his attack that such a horrible fate would befall Link, and the guilt of knowing as much was eating Pit alive. At the same time, a new guilt ate at Pit's conscience; any terrible fate that Link would have to suffer would be Pit's fault, but he was expecting someone else to handle the final blow? No matter what happened, Link would most likely be screwed; it wasn't fair that Rinku had to share in the guilt when it was Pit's fault that Link's life could be permanently ruined.

Out of the corner of his eye, Pit saw the Holy Arrow shimmer as it had when he fired it earlier, so before Rinku could fire the arrow, Pit snatched the weapons out of his hands and backed away a few steps. Rinku quickly turned to look at him, his expression a mixture of anger and bewilderment, so Pit tried to put his earlier thoughts into words. "I should be the one to do this. Even if you're able to bring Link back to life or... whatever it is you'll do to him, he'll still be hurt because of me, right? It's my fault that he could spend the rest of his life in pain, if he even gets a 'rest of his life.' What's adding the guilt of killing him going to hurt when it's already my fault that his life could be ruined?"

Pit didn't give Rinku a chance to fight him on his decision. Pit loaded the arrow back onto the bow and took aim, giving himself one final glance at Diabolus Angelus's injured form before the arrow's light blinded him and he had to close his eyes. A few stray tears found their way down Pit's cheeks, and out of nowhere the angelic choir Pit thought he'd heard before started up again, one loud, constant note blaring in Pit's ear. Through the noise, not even Pit heard his anguished apology to Link as he released the bow string and let the arrow fly.

This time, Diabolus Angelus wasn't able to dodge the strike. Her final scream was the last thing Pit heard before the room fell under a sudden and complete silence. When the angel opened his eyes, he clearly saw the Holy Arrow sticking out of Link's chest.

Pit had succeeded in bringing down Diabolus Angelus.

**To Be Continued**

**Hello! This is Flock. I don't own Super Smash Bros., The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask (where the Fierce Deity Mask is from), or Soul Calibur II (where the Magic Sword and Hyper Dash Attack are from).**

**Happy Belated Halloween and Dia de los Muertos, first of all. My original plan was to post this chapter on the 21****st****, but unfortunately that was impossible. For some mysterious reason, the power blinked off one day, and when it came back on, the computer was completely dead. So depressing. I've been trying to get someone to take me to the library for days now, but nothing happened. I'm actually at my sister's apartment to help her move in right now, so I've gotta make this super quick!**

**To the Review Replies!**

**iMelinda: Ten minutes? **_**Ten**_**? Holy shnikies! That's super **_**super**_** speed reading! I can't even read one of my own chapters that fast. Then again, I have to check for spelling mistakes, so that's part of the problem. Yeah. Ganondorf wasn't exactly happy with the plan and was possessed against his will. Whether or not Link survives has yet to be seen (I've actually been harboring some awful idea lately that Link can't be saved in the end and Pit dies of blood loss. Evil…) but I think it's about time that I write an ending that's actually happy instead of my usual downers, so maybe he'll survive. We just have to wait and see, I guess.**

**Farli30519: Dark Link and Link picture! Yay! Er…Ahem. Sorry about that. Well, Link survived at first… but things don't look very good for him at the moment.**

**EggplantWitch: Well, the way I see it, the Eggplant Wizard turns Pit into an eggplant, but he still has his legs, so he usually manages all right. Pyramid Head and the Chainsaw Guy like to decapitate people, which, considering some of the sissy things that have killed Pit in this story already, I'm sure he wouldn't be able to survive all that well. That's why they ranked above the Eggplant Wizards. As for Satoshi and Shigeru, Satoshi is actually the Pokemon Trainer from Brawl. For a long time, I read fan fictions that referred to him as Satoshi (the Japanese name for Ash from the Pokemon Cartoon), so I decided to do that, too. Shigeru is the Japanese version of Ash's frienemy, Gary from the cartoon, so sorry that I never explained that before. Ah, and as for Mr. Resetti, I felt kind of bad for only featuring him in chapter one, so I decided that he had to reappear sometime or another. I'm sure he's glad that you said that about him! ^_^**

**Captain Black Knight: Now, Link is basically dead, and Ganondorf is, too! Are Pit and Rinku going to be able to save him? Beats me. I'm horrible at sticking to my original ideas. A random meteor could fall out of the sky and kill everyone in the end for all I know. And the last chapter had to be long to make up for chapter 15's incredible shortness. I hope this chapter was up to your expectations. ^_^**

**Mariko Midori: Did it meet your expectations? I hope it did. Thanks for the review!**

**riverraiden: The arrow was actually only gone because Diabolus Angelus took it and hid it to keep Pit from using it. I was originally going to have the story follow Pit as he went to find it, but I figured keeping the focus on Rinku and Dia would be better since this was supposed to be a major battle, so that idea got nixed. It's funny that you mentioned the crystal because that actually comes up in the next couple of chapters. When you mentioned Zelda in a tournament, it reminded me of the old days in Melee when I used to do exactly that all the time. For some reason, though, she lost her appeal to me in Brawl and Link became my top character. Huh.**

…**And done. Next up, the aftermath of the battle. Will Link survive? Is Diabolus Angelus really gone for good? And what about Pit? Having only one wing has got to suck. Tune in next time for another chapter of The Diabolus Crystal, and until then, please read and review!**


	18. Chapter 18

It was nothing short of a miracle that Pit's shot was a direct hit. At least, that's what Rinku was thinking when he saw that the arrow, in spite of the Master Sword's obstructive placement, had struck Diabolus Angelus in the heart. To Pit, however, his lucky shot couldn't have been anything but a terrible curse. As if it wasn't bad enough that he'd just had to shoot his best friend in the heart with an arrow, it turned out that Diabolus Angelus was still alive, at least for the moment. She was completely silent, but the way that her wide, hate-filled red eyes stared holes through Pit's terror-stricken blue orbs chilled Pit to the core. He could practically hear the demonic curses running through her mind as she attempted to pinpoint the best one to use on the ethereal being with her final breath. Each short, deep rasp that heaved through her flared nostrils filled Pit with more and more dread until at last she made her move.

Rising to her feet and taking a single step forward, Diabolus Angelus's eyes turned entirely red so that they perfectly matched the blood that was pouring from her various wounds. She lifted her left arm- the same one that Rinku had injured- so that her hand was outstretched toward Pit, but before she could utter her "curse," her wounds finally got the better of her and she collapsed, dropping weakly to her knees before falling forward into a small puddle of blood. Pit flinched when he noticed that the entire blade of the Master Sword was sticking out of her back- meaning that the impact had forced the sword through her body until it met resistance from the guard- but the arrow hadn't been affected because it was only a little bit longer than the hilt of the Master Sword. History had already shown that the Master Sword didn't have enough power to kill Diabolus Angelus on its own; there was no doubt in Pit's mind that Diabolus Angelus was still alive, weakened though she was, and that she would likely remain that way until one final blow was struck.

"I bet we're thinking the same thing: one of us has to finish the job," Rinku said softly, crossing the short distance separating him from the angel and carefully patting Pit's right shoulder. The angel didn't feel it; his back had gone numb after he was pushed against the wall the second time. "I'll handle it, okay? You shouldn't feel the need to shoulder all the blame on your own. You've done enough, already."

Without waiting for an answer, Rinku side-stepped the angel and walked toward the incapacitated monster. That was just fine with Pit; in all honesty, he had no desire to be anywhere near Diabolus Angelus when she took her final breath, incapacitated or not. Even as Rinku crudely kicked her onto her back and grabbed the arrow, still pulsating with energy, Diabolus Angelus's eyes were locked solely on Pit, and realizing as much creeped Pit out to no end. He was sure that if he was the one forcing the arrow through her heart, she'd have killed him with her final reserves of strength by now and cursed him into some hellish after-life in purgatory. As it was, she only glared at him with no shortage of malice in her eyes, the only sound coming from her throat a disgusting gargle of blood as she attempted to breathe with a punctured lung. Pit wanted desperately to close his eyes and cover his ears, but he wouldn't give the monster the satisfaction of seeing his discomfort over the sensations of seeing her die in the body of his best friend.

Pit would come to regret this decision of false bravado very soon, and for months to come afterward; while his ears heard Rinku praying to the Golden Goddesses that Diabolus Angelus would suffer until the end of days, what he saw, as the Hero of Time plunged the arrow deeper into the monster's heart, were the movements of Diabolus Angelus's lips. She made sure the angel knew exactly what she was silently mouthing to him; while she slowly motioned to him, Pit found himself copying her movements, finding the syllables all too easy to decode as Diabolus Angelus relayed her twisted threat to the angel: "You can't save him. Even if he survives, he's become so consumed by hatred that he'll waste the rest of his miserable life hunting for me until he finally kills himself. All you'll end up doing is create a monster that's even worse than I am..."

Diabolus Angelus had just finished giving Pit her prophetic final message when the arrow gave off one final, brilliant glimmer of light, once again blinding the angel with its intensity. When the light finally died down, it was Link lying motionless on the floor; the black markings had faded from his skin, this time for good, and the previously red eyes that had been the demonic entity's trademark were replaced by Link's lifeless blue irises. It seemed the Holy Arrow had pulled Diabolus Angelus's soul from Link's body; while the arrow itself had returned to its original appearance as one of Link's run-of-the-mill arrows, there was a faint black and orange aura emanating from the arrow, and as Rinku removed it from Link's chest, two distinct mists- one being the black haze bespeckled with orange crystals that was Diabolus Angelus's spirit while the other was the dark black squares of Ganondorf's deteriorated form- fled from the opening in the hero's chest. As Pit watched, Ganondorf corporealized on the floor, immediately recognizable as a lifeless corpse, while Diabolus Angelus flew into the throne, where it was suddenly revealed that the Diabolus Crystal had been sitting there, mostly invisible without its resident spirit, throughout the entire battle, possibly having been abandoned there during Ganondorf's struggle against the demonic spirit.

It took all of Pit's will-power to resist the temptation of running up to the crystal and smashing it to pieces. As much as he wanted to destroy the terrible artifact that had caused him so much suffering, he knew that doing so could have dire consequences, such as setting Diabolus Angelus loose with no way of sealing her away again. While it pained Pit to just leave her there, immune to the divine retribution that she rightly deserved, he chose to ignore his burning desire to destroy her and instead staggered over to join Rinku and Link.

Upon reaching the two Hylians, it was instantly clear to Pit that something was wrong. Rinku was digging through his item bag as if frantically searching for something important that had mysteriously gone missing, all the while muttering a few nasty expletives under his breath. It wasn't until Rinku pulled out all five of his bottles- each containing a relatively useless item such as water, bugs, and fish- that Pit realized what he was looking for. The angel slowly reached into his own item bag, instantly producing the empty bottle that had previously contained the Fairy Spirit that Pit had used to revive Link on Rinku's instruction. "Is this what you're looking for?"

The hero glanced up, his eyes widening for a second before he scoffed angrily, "Right. I forgot... Damn," Rinku sighed, running a blood splattered hand through his bangs in silent contemplation before he finally continued, "Check in Link's bag. Does he have any recovery items we can use?"

Pit dug through his own bags, finding about four bottles of useless junk- bee larvae, lantern oil, some incredibly nasty looking black soup, and worst of all, nothing- before he found half a bottle of milk. It wasn't much; in fact, it looked like the milk had actually gone bad and was beginning to curdle. Pit cringed in disgust as he held the bottle out to Rinku. "I think this is it."

"No Fairy Spirit, or...?"

"No. Just some junk. He had a Fairy earlier, but he used it to save Ike and Nana after our initial run-in with Dia."

"I was afraid of that. He obviously got my pride when I was reborn. So self-assured that I only bother to capture one Fairy Spirit when I know that I could end up in a life or death struggle at a moment's notice... Goddesses, why am I so damn cocky?" Rinku shook his head in disgust. "Well, Pit, I don't know how else to break it to you, but it looks like Link might not survive this one. The original plan was that I would meld my soul back together with Link's to revive him, then have you use my Fairy Spirit to heal his wounds. I hadn't expected to have to use the Fairy Spirit early; although, I wouldn't have wasted it if I'd remembered that Diabolus Angelus could use Ganondorf's powers to transfer her soul into Link's body. So now," Rinku directed his gaze at the bottle of milk in Pit's hand, "we'll have to hope that this half-empty, spoiled bottle of milk will be enough to keep Link alive until you can get outside for Zelda and Satoshi to heal both of you, and that's if we're being optimistic..."

"Let's be optimistic, then!" Pit yelled, mostly to keep Rinku from spelling out the less desirable outcome of their attempt to save Link. "So the only thing we have that could keep Link from certain death is some milk. Well, if you ask me, it's still better than nothing! I don't know about you, but I didn't spend my entire day going through Hell just to bring back a corpse in the end! I came here to save Link, and I swear, to Palutena above and Medusa below, that if we don't do everything we can to save him, I will switch over to the other side, and I will _massacre _every _fucking_ 'paragon of good' that let my best friend die such a horrible, shameful, undeserved-"

"Okay, okay. I'll be optimistic. Just stop being so melodramatic. It's not very becoming of an angel, much less the bodyguard of a goddess," Rinku muttered, rolling his eyes.

Pit scoffed, "In case you haven't noticed, I'm missing one of my wings; as soon as I return to Angel Land, I'll probably be forced into an early retirement, stripped of what few powers I have. Can't have a handicapped angel protecting one of the all-powerful goddesses, after all. So, not only am I no longer Palutena's bodyguard, but I'm barely still identifiable as an angel, so as far as I'm concerned, I can be as melodramatic as I damn well please."

Rinku sighed in exasperation, but rather than continue a pointless argument, the hero calmly replied, "I highly doubt that you really feel that way, seeing as how I've been down that road, too, so let me give you some friendly advice: rather than lash out at others, how about, should Link die in spite of everything we do to save him, you just cry like normal people do when they lose someone they deeply care about?"

Pit didn't have a reply to Rinku's- admittedly good- words of wisdom. In all honesty, even though he had no way of knowing whether Link would survive or not, he was already on the verge of tears. He'd just gone through more in a day than most people went through their entire lives; if Link died after everything else that had happened, Pit would probably lose what little sanity he had left...

"All right," Rinku said softly, pulling Pit's attention back to him, "let's get this over with. Ready on your end?"

"As ready as I can be."

"That's good. Remember, Link won't last for long, even after you heal him. He's already lost more than a quart of blood; if he loses much more, he'll go into shock and stop breathing, and that's if his injuries don't kill him first. You've got to be quick if Link's going to survive..." Rinku glanced over at Pit, who was staring nervously at the floor, and, smiling, the Hero of Time continued, "...but I'm pretty confident that you'll be able to pull it off. Besides, if you fail, we'll just meet again in our next lives, so it's not like there's that much pressure on you to succeed."

To Rinku's surprise, Pit actually cracked a small smile, although his eyes were still clouded with fear. "Hopefully, it won't come to that. I don't need two past lives filled with regret to haunt my dreams. One is bad enough as it is."

"I just hope for your sake that you aren't reborn as the creepy old guy Toonie has to team up with to save the Ocean King. He gets possessed by a monster, too, and Toonie ends up fighting him in the end. Having some of your memories would certainly explain why the guy's such a coward, though...Maybe he really _is_ your reincarnation."

"Great. That makes me feel _so_ much better," Pit answered sarcastically.

"Like I said already, I'm pretty confident that you'll be able to do this. Just consider the threat of being reborn as Linebeck your incentive to try harder," Rinku said softly, which made it that much more disturbing when he fiercely tugged the Master Sword from Link's chest. His light conversation had apparently been a ruse to keep Pit distracted from noticing the gruesome task until it was too late- and a pretty good ruse at that. While Pit cringed guiltily when he caught sight of the small bone fragments that had attached themselves to the blade, he'd missed the sounds from the Master Sword as Rinku slowly pried it loose from Link's sternum, creating more breaks through the sturdy bone in the process.

Rinku also cringed as he took a fleeting glance at the item that had helped bring down Diabolus Angelus, but his glance only lasted for a few seconds before he cast the sword aside and placed his left hand over the small wound left behind by the Holy Arrow. He closed his eyes and slowly exhaled, but it wasn't enough to mask how nervous he was about the task ahead. He could say that he was confident in Pit's ability to save Link all he wanted, but Pit knew that there was a very real chance that he would fail and end up killing Link, just as Roy killed Young Link and Rinku.

It was an awful last impression to leave on someone, to say the least. Pit wanted to say something that might help ease Rinku's worries, but before he could, the Triforce on the back of Rinku's hand lit up and began the spell that would return Rinku to Link's body. It was quite possibly the strangest thing Pit had ever seen; before Pit's very eyes, Rinku dissolved into a hazy mist the same color as his tunic and slowly wafted into Link's body through some of his various wounds. The effect was instantaneous; the moment that Rinku had completely vanished, Link came back to life with a deep, raspy gasp, followed by a coughing spasm similar to the one that had seized him the last time he'd been brought back to life.

Pit didn't waste any time on celebrating Link's return to the world of the living. Kneeling in the spot Rinku had occupied just seconds earlier, Pit uncorked the bottle of spoiled milk, lifted Link into a sitting position, and forced the disgusting milk past his lips. Link's every facial feature said that the milk tasted just as awful as it looked as he forced himself to swallow it all, and Pit found his own stomach churning in sympathy when he saw Link lurch as if he was going to vomit. Somehow, Link managed to keep the milk down, but even after a few minutes, all it ended up doing was stop Link's coughing fit- assuming it hadn't just stopped naturally- and significantly reduce the amount of blood Link was losing; although, he'd already lost enough blood that it was a moot point. Nothing had been done about his gaping injuries, either internal or external, and the wet, uneven way that he was breathing suggested that at least one of his lungs was quickly filling with blood or, worse, collapsing.

Link needed some real help, fast. Slinging Link's right arm over his shoulder and holding it there with his own right hand, Pit gently rubbed his friend's back and whispered soothingly, "Okay, Link. Let's get out of here. Can you hear me all right?" Link nodded sullenly, neither lifting his head nor opening his eyes to look at the angel. Pit briefly wondered if Link even knew who was talking to him. "Good. Princess Zelda and Satoshi are waiting in one of the lower levels of this tower to heal us, but I can't get us there if I have to support both of our weights. Do you think you can walk if I hold you up?" Link nodded again, and Pit snaked his hand under Link's left arm and hoisted them both up, but he stumbled and had to release Link's hand to catch himself on the wall. As a result, Link also staggered, but with Pit as the nearest thing he could grab onto, he accidentally grabbed the angel's mangled wing, causing Pit to gasp sharply and collapse against the wall, groaning in pain.

"Sorry," Link muttered in a hushed, raspy voice, finally opening his eyes to see what he was doing. He immediately let go of the wing, and given a few moments, the pain finally subsided and Pit pushed off from the wall while Link's hand returned to his shoulder. Link had to dig his nails through the weakened fabric and into Pit's shoulder to gain any sort of leverage, but given the pain Pit already felt and the pain Link was so obviously in as he clumsily matched Pit's slow steps, Pit ignored the minor pain Link was putting him in for the time being.

For a short time, they walked together in total silence, leaning on each other for support as they slowly made their way toward the door, until Link finally broke the silence with a question that genuinely surprised Pit, "You remember the promise we made on the Falcon Flyer after Tabuu defeated us, right?"

"Promise...? Oh..." Pit sighed knowingly. Of course. How could he forget? "You mean that ridiculous promise that you would take over as Palutena's bodyguard if I died, and that I would take over as Princess Zelda's bodyguard if you died?"

"Well, Pit, it looks like it's time for you to uphold your end of the bargain..."

"Shut up. You aren't going to die. Besides, do you have any idea how drugged up we both were when we made that promise? I'm pretty sure we got into an argument over the existence of space unicorns right before King Dedede put us under."

Pit's light attempt at humor didn't faze Link. Continuing as if Pit hadn't just spoken, Link whispered softly, "...I also need you to inform everyone back in Ordon Village of my death. There's a little boy there named Colin. Tell him that he can have Epona if he wants her... and I'm sorry that I never gave him riding lessons like I promised-"

"I said to shut up about that. You're not dying..." Pit huffed.

"-Colin's parents, Rusl and Uli, raised me after my parents died, so they'll probably be the most devastated when they hear the news. Give the Ordon Sword in my house to Rusl when you go to see him. It's only right, since he's the one who forged it in the first place-"

"Link..." Pit whispered. It was getting harder for him to hear all this the longer Link went on about his last will and testament, but Link continued, undeterred, naming the various members of his community and the message that he wanted Pit to deliver to them. Thank Sera for all of her store's support... Apologize to Jaggle for stealing the shield he was trying to make for Rusl... Tell Fado to pay more attention at the ranch since Link wouldn't be around to fix his mistakes anymore... Tell Mayor Bo that it was up to him what happened to Link's estate and thank him for the sumo lessons... Avoid telling the younger children if at all possible... Pit was on the verge of tears by the time Link was at the end of his list.

"...Finally, there's the mayor's daughter-Ilia. This one's kind of... personal-"

"For the last time! You're not dying!" Pit yelled angrily. He released his grip on the wall for a moment to push open the door leading back into the hallway before he clutched onto the door frame and slowly lead Link out the door, all the while grumping, "Honestly, stop being such a pessimist! The others have probably made their way up to the twelfth floor by now; we just have to go down one more floor and we'll be in the clear. If you stop wasting your energy on rambling about your last will, you should be more than capable of surviving that lo-"

_Ka-thunk._

In one sudden, fluid motion, Link had lost his grip on Pit's shoulder, slid out of the angel's grasp, and collapsed against the door. The reason? Link had passed out from a lack of oxygen; as Pit had feared, Link's lungs had been punctured and had been slowly filling with blood since before Pit had revived him. Even unconscious, Link was sputtering small globs of blood in a desperate attempt to clear his airways.

"Link!" Pit crouched over his friend and grabbed his shoulders, shaking him slowly but forcefully until he finally got a weak little moan in response. Pit was relieved that Link was still alive, but he knew that this could easily change in the blink of an eye. If Pit were at full health, this wouldn't be much of a problem, but as weakened as he was by the fight with Diabolus Angelus, Pit didn't have the strength to lug nearly two hundred extra pounds of dead weight along with him. "Fuck..." Pit hissed. His frustration had finally hit its peak; he grabbed Link by the shoulders again, this time shaking him forcefully enough that the back of his head struck the door multiple times, but there wasn't much of a reaction from the hero to this harsh treatment. Link wasn't going to miraculously regain consciousness, apparently.

Pit's only remaining option was to go back down to the lower levels on his own, bring back one or two of the other Smashers, and have them take Link outside to be healed. This plan wasn't without its risks, of course; Pit wasn't actually sure where the others had congregated after fighting off the huge mobs of enemies on the lower levels, assuming they'd congregated at all, and Pit didn't know how difficult it would actually be to get past all of the monsters, living or dead, that would be littering the lower levels before it was too late...

It was, however, Pit's only realistic option left. Taking one last glance at Link, who'd gone from a slightly uneven rasp to what sounded like heavy, strangled sobs that were few and far between in the time Pit had spent coming up with a solution, Pit made a silent vow to return for Link as soon as he could and started down the hallway.

He'd barely taken a step, however, before a bright golden light shone from behind him. The hairs on the back of Pit's neck stood on edge, and his lone wing twitched as it did whenever he found himself in the presence of Palutena.

_**"It's too late for that now, Captain Pit. By the time you return with your comrades, the Chosen Hero will have perished."**_

"Goddess...?" He turned back toward Link, but to his surprise, the beautiful young woman floating over his best friend wasn't Palutena. While she had the same green hair and eyes as his guardian goddess, her hair was pulled up into two buns on top of her head, her gown was made up of a dark green top and a lighter green skirt and sleeves, and her only accessory was a light green pearl with two dark green crescent moons wrapped around a similarly colored dot at its center, hanging off of her waist from a golden chain.

_**"I am Farore, the Goddess of Courage and, more importantly," **_Farore ran her left hand through Link's hair, and Pit suddenly noticed that Farore also had the symbol of the Triforce on the back of her hand, _**"I am the guardian goddess of the Chosen Hero."**_

Under normal circumstances, this would be the part where Pit dropped to one knee and formally introduced himself, as well, but given that one of the Golden Goddesses who'd helped shape Hyrule had chosen to appear to a- now mostly useless- angel such as Pit, these weren't exactly normal circumstances. Pit couldn't even find his tongue to ask the goddess why she'd chosen to come to Earth now, of all times, but Farore, knowing that time was of the essence, explained herself without waiting for Pit's input.

_**"As Palutena explained to you previously, it was my sisters and I who sealed Diabolus Angelus's soul away in that stone, thinking that the world would be safe from her terrifying powers if we did. Therefore, I am partially to blame for the atrocities that have befallen you and the Chosen Hero over these last few days. I thought I could make amends by blessing your final arrow, but it is clear to me now that I still owe you a large debt for unintentionally allowing this evil to continue to exist,"**_ Farore crossed the short distance separating her from Pit and lightly pressed her left index finger onto his forehead. Although she looked delicate, her skin was as hot as fire; Pit barely resisted his urge to recoil from her burning touch, _**"Therefore, I have one final gift to offer unto you, on which I have already received Palutena's consent. If you are willing to give up your current rank and privileges as Captain of Palutena's Army, I will promote you from your current position in the hierarchy of angels from Palutena's Guard to Guardian Angel."**_

Pit's jaw dropped. "G-Guardian...? Me? Th-That's..."

_**"As you are no doubt aware, becoming a Guardian Angel is the greatest honor an angel can receive. You will appear to be human, but you will be virtually immortal and be given the gift of healing to use on those who have been harmed by the forces of evil, yourself included. This, along with the ability to teleport from Angel Land to any point on Earth at your own discretion, will be your initial power. The rest will come as you grow into your existing powers, assuming you choose to accept your new position."**_

Pit was dumbfounded, "I-Is this really okay? Just... letting me have this power...? Most angels have to work for centuries before they've earned the right to become Guardian Angels."

_**"If you want to know the truth, it has always been your destiny to eventually earn the gift of healing. You were just meant to earn it in a different way, after going through another trial far greater than any you were previously meant to endure... but destiny can change, as you have clearly seen today. While you will still have to go through the trial that was originally meant to grant you the power of healing several years from now, you would only be able to save the Chosen Hero if we gave you this ability now. Therefore, Captain Pit, I shall ask you once again if you are willing to give up everything tied to your current position as Palutena's bodyguard to become a Guardian Angel."**_

Pit didn't even need to think about it, "Yes. A million times yes."

_**"In that case, Captain Pitrius Corbeau Icarus of the First Division of Palutena's Army, you are relieved of your duties as Bodyguard of the Goddess of Light so that you may take your rightful place as a Guardian Angel."**_

A blinding flash of light snaked from Farore's finger to Pit's forehead, and from there, down to his wing. Before Pit's incredulous eyes, his wing turned a brilliant shade of white and exploded, sending hundreds of feathers drifting softly through the air. Still covered in a white glow, the feathers were the loveliest thing Pit had ever seen. Pit never would have noticed that both of his hands were also glowing that brilliant white if it wasn't for the warmth that engulfed the palms of his hands. The glow in his hands only lasted for an instant before it vanished, leaving Pit staring at his inconsequential palms.

_**"Congratulations. You are officially a Guardian Angel. As you've probably gathered, your healing power is channeled through your hands. Heal yourself first, then use your power to save the Chosen Hero before it is too late. Only the Fates know what destiny you will follow afterward."**_

Pit finally followed protocol, dropping to his knees and taking one of Farore's hands, no longer harmed by the heat coming from the goddess as he kissed the back of her hand, "Thank you, Lady Farore, for all you've done to help me on this quest." As soon as Pit released her hand, Farore vanished, leaving Pit and Link all alone among a continuing shower of feathers. Following the goddess's instructions, Pit tentatively placed his right hand over his heart, and instantly his hand glowed again. A comforting surge of warmth flooded Pit's body, restoring his stamina and closing all of the wounds he'd acquired during the fight against Diabolus Angelus. Pit couldn't believe how simple that had been or how thorough the spell was; his healing power had even fixed all of the holes and removed every drop of blood from his clothes.

Pit was awestruck by the incredible power he had just been given, but he remembered quite clearly that it had been given to him for a reason; Pit hurriedly crossed back over to his unconscious friend and thrust both hands over Link's heart. It took a little longer for Link to heal than it had for Pit because he'd been closer to death than the angel, but in only a few minutes, Link's wounds were closed and his breathing was back to normal. Words couldn't describe the joy Pit felt when Link's eyes shot open and he bolted forward, looking incredibly confused as he inspected himself for the mortal injuries that he clearly remembered sustaining but could no longer find.

In the time it took Link to realize that his wounds had vanished without a trace and finally notice the angel crouched over him, Pit had begun weeping. In spite of everything that had happened and against all of Pit's expectations, Link had managed to stay alive and was going to be just fine. It was as if a huge burden had just been lifted from Pit's shoulders. If it wasn't for the risk that Peach might come along at any moment to take another of her creepy yaoi photos, Pit might have given Link a hug, but as it was, he simply offered the hero a hand and said warmly, "Hey, Link. Welcome back."

"Good to be back, Pit," Link answered with an equal amount of warmth, although he still looked very confused as he took Pit's hand and the angel hoisted him to his feet. When Pit followed Link's gaze, he discovered that Link was watching the last few feathers from Pit's wing flutter to the floor. "Er, this might sound crazy, but... are those... feathers?"

"Yep. Mine, to be specific. Long story short, I took a promotion that gave me healing powers at the cost of my wings," Pit answered, simplifying the story to the best of his ability. He was surprised by the appalled look on Link's face as the hero stared at him in subdued horror.

"You did what?" Without giving Pit the chance to answer, Link forcefully spun the angel around so that his back was to Link. "You've got to be kidding!"

"Nope. I gave up my wings so I could save you. Why is that so hard for you to- _Gah!_ What the hell are you doing?" Pit screamed as Link's hand, quite without warning, wormed its way down the angel's tunic, feeling over his shoulder blades for any signs of Pit's wings.

"You...You're serious..."

"Of course I'm serious. Now, get your hand out of my clothes!"

Link retracted his hand just as quickly as he'd placed it there, looking genuinely apologetic as he muttered, "Sorry about that. It's just... That surprised me. You've always freaked out whenever someone messed with your wings. You were hugging them defensively when Gadd joked about the Poltergust 5000 potentially sucking them up, and less than an hour ago you were spazzing about how much you hated having them pinned against your back so that you could sneak through here. I just find it hard to believe that you would willingly give them up after all of that."

"Well, I did. It was a pretty easy choice, actually. Either I kept my wing and let both of us die, or I gave up my wing to save you, get a sweet promotion, and never have to worry about an enemy manipulating me through my wings ever again. Besides, I supposedly gained some sort of teleportation power to make up for losing the ability to fly, so it was a good trade."

"If you say so," Link answered with a shrug. He sounded vaguely sarcastic; Pit was sure that he was about to go into some sort of soliloquy about how he didn't believe that the trade was nearly as fair as Pit thought, but instead, the hero patted Pit's shoulder and said, "Either way, thanks for saving me. I owe you one."

"Think nothing of it," Pit replied warmly, wrapping his own arm around Link's shoulder. "We should really get going. I bet your princess is going to be thrilled that you're okay."

Link grimaced, removing his hand from Pit's shoulder as they started down the hallway, "Actually, Pit, I'd prefer it if you'd never bring up Zelda like that again. After finding out that she's technically my granddaughter, any romantic feelings I might have had for her are completely gone. It's just...creepy."

"That's understandable. I guess I don't need to ask if you can remember anything that happened while Diabolus Angelus possessed you."

"You know, it's really weird; I remember bits and pieces of what happened from my own perspective, but I can also see everything that happened from the Hero of Time's perspective. It's been giving me a really bad case of double vision whenever I try to remember what happened. It doesn't really help that I also got all of the Hero of Time's memories, either; now I can barely tell which memories are mine and which are his."

"That must suck. I'd hate it if I had all of Roy's memories like-" Link thrust his arm out in front of Pit's face, stopping the angel midsentence and in his tracks. When the angel turned to look at his friend, Link was looking around uneasily with a weary look on his face. "Link?"

"Shh," Link hissed softly. Pit snapped his mouth shut immediately, but try as he might, the worst Pit could hear was the continuing battle between the other Smashers and the remaining monsters. Since he had Rinku's memories, that couldn't have been what had Link on edge, but for the life of him, Pit couldn't figure out what Link thought he'd heard until it finally hit him.

Literally.

The only warning Pit got was the clinking of the multiple candelabras lining the walls before the floor drastically swayed beneath his feet. The two heroes had to cling to the walls and struggle to remain standing while the windows shattered and what little furniture decorated the hallway either toppled over or fell from the quickly cracking walls. The earthquake only lasted for about twelve seconds before it stopped just as suddenly as it had begun, leaving a path of destruction in its wake.

"What was that?" Pit asked nervously.

"Snake must have jeopardized the tower's stability when he was blowing all those holes in the walls. Either that, or Ganondorf rigged the building to collapse in the hopes of killing us in the falling rubble. It's sort of his thing to destroy his hideouts that way."

"Lovely. How much time do you think we have before the entire building comes down?" Pit had barely finished asking before the tower shook again, this quake severe enough that large chunks of debris broke loose from the ceiling and pelted a few random patches of the floor before the newest quake ended.

"If it keeps up like this, probably just a few minutes. We'd better get moving," Link answered solemnly. Pit silently agreed, and the two heroes took off toward the opposite end of the hallway.

A loud bang, as if something heavy had struck the ground, resounded from the throne room, causing Link and Pit to stop short and turn back to see what it was. At first, they could only see a huge cloud of dust, leading them to the conclusion that part of the ceiling had broken free and fallen into the room- thus, the commotion. However, as the dust started to settle and the inside of the room became visible again, it became immediately clear that this was only part of the story; while a large chunk of the ceiling had indeed fallen into the room, the loud noise had been the result of a certain someone turning the stone over so that it was no longer crushing his newly revived body. It was obvious that this was the case; Ganondorf was panting heavily, covered in a fine dusting of debris with his arm still outstretched toward a large, overturned rock. His bright orange eyes captured the eyes of his enemies as he slowly rose to his feet and dusted himself off, his wounds slowly healing all the while. He staggered over to the throne and picked up the Diabolus Crystal, grinning maliciously as he caught sight of the enraged look on Link's face.

"That's quite an expression you're making, boy. What's wrong? You already know that I can't be killed as long as the Triforce of Power is in my hand. Or is it..." Ganondorf decorporealized, and before Link could stop him, he reappeared behind Pit and wrapped his arm around the angel's throat, effectively taking him hostage as he pressed the Diabolus Crystal against the angel's heart, "...that you'd anticipated this?"

"Let him go," Link growled menacingly.

"Now, why would I want to do that? Your little friend has caused me quite a bit of grief, you know. Besides, it could prove quite useful to have an immortal angel as my underling. If nothing else, I can destroy him as many times as I want to pay that little witch back for possessing me."

Pit squeezed his eyes shut, fully aware that he'd never be able to escape from Ganondorf's grasp with simple brute force. He was putting all his focus into activating his new teleportation power, but try as he might, he was firmly stuck in place. It didn't help that he could practically hear Diabolus Angelus cackling in his head, pleased that Pit was about to become her newest victim.

Link could literally see it on his face as Pit gave up, resigned to the horrible fate Link himself had just suffered. Balling his hands into fists, Link hissed between clenched teeth, "I'll ask you one last time, Ganondorf. Let go of Pit."

"If you insist," Ganondorf replied nonchalantly. He pushed Pit to the floor and turned away, all the while keeping the Diabolus Crystal in Link's field of vision. "After all, there are plenty of other potential victims wandering the planet, and it would be much more fun to watch you mistakenly kill hundreds of innocent people in your search for my new doll, rather than let you know who it is from the start." Ganondorf laughed maniacally, and Link finally snapped.

Pit couldn't believe his eyes; just as Diabolus Angelus had done to himself and Rinku several times during their battle, Link thrust his arm out toward Ganondorf, and the Great King of Evil was hurled halfway across the hallway and into the stone frame surrounding the door to his throne room, bringing a fresh shower of rubble down on Ganondorf's head and sending another quake throughout the unstable walls of the tower.

Link took a step toward Ganondorf's unmoving form, smirking at the startled look on his enemy's face, "In case you've forgotten, Ganondorf, most of the powers your 'little doll' had while she was in my body were actually mine. It's been a while since I've used any of them, though. I'll have to be sure to thank her someday for reminding me that I have them." Link waved his arm toward Ganondorf again, sending his enemy further into the throne room until he toppled over the throne and slammed heavily into the adjacent wall. Another quake, the most severe one yet, shook the tower, and Pit chewed his lips nervously as he watched a number of large boulders pelt the surrounding floor, opening up a large skylight in the ceiling. At this rate, Link was going to get them both killed.

Pit got to his feet and tentatively crossed to Link's side, nervously muttering, "Okay, Link. You've gotten your revenge. Now, let's get out of here before you bring the whole place crashing down on our heads."

For just a brief second, Link's eyes darted to meet Pit's before they turned back toward Ganondorf, but the cold hatred Pit saw in them for that second was enough to send chills down his spine. "You go on ahead. I'll take care of Ganondorf while you find the others."

"Are you serious...? I get that you want revenge, but you'll be killed if you stay here much longer! Is getting your revenge really so important that you'd throw your life away for it?"

"I'm not throwing my life away; this shouldn't take more than a minute or two. I just want to make sure Ganondorf gets to suffer the same way I did while his precious Dia was possessing me. I'll meet you outside, okay?"

Pit relented when Link threw a kind smile his way. The angel sighed in exasperation and turned toward the stairs leading back to the twelfth floor. "Fine. Do whatever helps you sleep at night. Throw in a few hits for me, too, okay?"

"Can do," Link answered as he started across the hallway toward Ganondorf's fallen form, and Pit went the opposite way to gather the others and make their escape. It was just as Pit disappeared down the stairs that Link reached the throne room to find Ganondorf struggling to stand, but the hero wasn't in the mood for sympathy; Link waved his arm to the right, sending Ganondorf into the same wall Diabolus Angelus had thrown Rinku and, from there, into the large puddle of blood left from Rinku's abdominal wound. As always, Ganondorf didn't stay down for long, but as he started to get up, he found that the Magic Sword had been moved from the spot where Diabolus Angelus had met defeat to just within his reach. Glancing up, Ganondorf discovered that Link was standing over him, Master Sword in hand.

"Well, this is a surprise. The way you were talking to your friend, I'd never have imagined that you'd give me a fighting chance," Ganondorf said as he got to his feet.

"Don't flatter yourself," Link answered coldly. "I just want to prolong your suffering as much as possible. It wouldn't be any fun if you died too quickly."

Ganondorf chuckled maniacally over Link's threat, "Now it's you who seems to have forgotten. As I already explained, I can't be killed as long as I have the Triforce of Power."

"But you _can_ be Trophicated. This is the World of Trophies, after all. All I have to do is defeat you, and you'll be trapped in your own body, just like I was."

Another powerful quake shook the tower, and Ganondorf had to grab the Magic Sword and roll out of the way when a large chunk of ceiling broke off and fell into the spot he'd been occupying. The Dark Lord got to his feet, smirking at his enemy, "You've dug your own grave, boy. You should have left with your friend while you had the chance. You'll never have enough time to defeat me and escape before you're crushed by my tower."

"That's fine. As long as you die and the others are safe..." Ganondorf couldn't believe his eyes. In just three seconds, Link had crossed the room and thrust his sword through the crack left in Ganondorf's armor from Rinku's fight with Diabolus Angelus. The eyes glaring at him from beneath a shock of blond hair were as cold and calculating as a serial killer's. "...I couldn't care less what happens to me." Link fiercely tugged the Master Sword from Ganondorf's stomach, recreating the wound his predecessor had given Diabolus Angelus. "Now, are you going to fight, or are you just going to give up like the coward you are?"

**To Be Continued**

**Good 'morrow! T'is I, Flock o' Seagulls, daughter of Mad Madame Mim and Gaga Pee Pap Cuyler, who hast travelled from the far reaches of Garlynndia to proclaim that I hold no rights to the Super Smash Bros. series of games, nor Kid Icarus, nor The Legend of Zelda (or Sword in the Stone and Squidbillies, where my parents' names came from for this weird disclaimer). Huzzah!**

**Wow, I am really sorry for the long wait, and for a long chapter with a semi-cliffy ending, too. In case you're wondering, no, I did not add the whole Guardian Angel thing at the last minute just to have an excuse for Link to keep living; if you go back to chapter 7, you'll see that I had Pit go into a whole explanation on what Guardian Angels are, so that moment was actually planned from the start. Now, Link going medieval on Ganondorf at the end of the chapter, that's a whole other story, but can you really blame the poor kid? He was possessed for nine chapters of the story, then, when he finally regained control of his body, Ganondorf threatens to take over his best friend, instead. It's only fair that he gets to exact some sweet revenge against his nemesis. I'm not so sure about his proclamation that he doesn't care what happens to him as long as Ganondorf dies, though. That could cause some real trouble for the next chapter...**

**Speaking of which, part of the reason this chapter was so long in coming is that I was actually just going to make this chapter and the next chapter into one supremely long chapter that ended the 'Evil Realm' part of the story, but as I kept typing, I noticed that I was leaving things out to save space, and that, even without including everything, this super chapter would end up being twice as long as the longest thing I'd ever written, so I figured I'd stop it where I did, which was actually where I put a scene change so that we followed Pit as he rendezvoused with the others for their escape (which is now the beginning of the next chapter, which is about a third of the way done as of the time of this update). Also, this is a minor detail, but the next chapter starts at the point where Pit and Link separated, so the earthquake that everyone feels near the beginning of the next chapter is the same one that Ganondorf had to dodge at the end of this chapter. (and in case you were wondering, another reason this chapter was so late was because Flock got caught up in playing The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword. She has beaten the game in the normal mode, but she's at least going to do Hero Mode up to the point where she first meets Ghira-chan...so she can watch him sneak up on Link and press his mouth against his ear again. It's her favorite moment in the entire game.)**

**That it is, strange third person perspective, and with that out of the way, onto review replies:**

**iMelinda: Pit and Link both managed to survive, but Dia and Ganondorf also survived, so there are at least three battles left in this story (ha, I actually bothered to think ahead on my ideas for once), but the most recent battle was definitely the biggest. I think there will be one battle for each of the remaining chapters, minor though a couple of the battles might be, so I hope you look forward to that. And thanks for comparing my new chapters to a new book you've been waiting to read. That really means a lot to me! Will everyone survive in the end? Who knows? Certainly not me! ^_^**

**Captain Black Knight: Oh, right, you're the one who… (puts on protective goggles to prevent the gauging of my eyes)Thanks for the spellcheck; for some reason, I come up with weird spellings when I'm not sure how something should be spelled but I feel too tired to go find the dictionary. I went ahead and fixed it, so hopefully I won't make that same mistake again. Anywho, yes, unfortunately the bitch you hate so dearly (who is still partially based on myself) has managed to survive, but if it makes you feel better, she doesn't get anymore actual appearances, so she's technically gone. As for Link's survival, just to warn you… you are gonna hate the next chapter. Mwa ha ha ha ha! I've actually ended up deciding that there will be three more chapters, but I hope you continue to enjoy the story, come what may. (ducks and hides)**

**riverraiden: And now Pit's down to zero wings. Ha! Beat that, other story! Just kidding, of course. By the way, what is the name of this other story? I'm now interested in reading it. As for your opinion on how I should end the story, I actually haven't fully decided how that will all go down just yet. I have the key plot points mapped out in my head, but I haven't quite figured out what the actual ending will be like. Ha, that's cool; you're best with Pit, and I'm best with Link. I haven't played Brawl much lately, though (too busy with Skyward Sword and the N64 version of GoldenEye). I wonder who would win if Pit and Link were pitted against each other? Hope to see you again next time!**

**oceanlover4evr: And this was sort of another cliffhanger! X_X Sorry about that! Hope to see you next chapter!**

…**And done! So, next is chapter 19; the same number as my current age, and more importantly, the alleged age of adult Link in Ocarina of Time, according to Brawl! Yay! Hopefully, the next chapter will be up before I turn twenty in May, so look forward to that, start stocking your bunker with survival gear for the apocalypse, and read and review, please!**


	19. Chapter 19

Pit's heartbeat was hammering in his ears as he reached the end of the staircase and started down the twelfth floor hallway. Contrary to everything he'd hoped for, his friends were nowhere to be found; although, there were many more monster remains than Pit remembered, giving testament to the fact that the others had stood their ground there for some time before they moved back down into one of the lower floors for some reason or another. Pit found himself wondering if it might have had something to do with Toon Link's health... Link had been dead for several minutes, after all. It was possible that Toon Link had also passed away, leaving Peach to panic and hurry back down to the lower levels to find Satoshi and Zelda and ask them if there was anything they could do for him. If that was the case, they might still be outside; Pit walked over to the giant hole Snake had blasted through the wall and glanced down, but to his disappointment, the others were nowhere to be seen.

He did, however, hear the sound of footsteps stampeding down one of the hallways just a few floors down, so Pit took a quick breather before starting down the hallway again with renewed vigor. Unfortunately for the angel, however, there was one final obstacle waiting for him on the infamous twelfth floor; as the angel passed by the room that had previously housed the Smashers' weapons, he heard a loud, somewhat overly dramatic moan from inside and realized that Mr. Resetti was still there, obviously having regained consciousness since he was ditched. Pit started past the room, seeing no reason to stop and save Resetti after all of the trouble he'd caused them, but the moment that thought entered his mind, a pang of guilt struck his heart so stongly that it knocked the wind out of him and sent a sharp, stabbing pain rippling through his chest.

_'What was that...?'_ Pit thought, slightly freaked out by how intense that had been. He'd never felt anything like that before. He tried to figure out what could have caused it; he'd thoroughly healed all his wounds, so that couldn't be it, and it hadn't happened until he thought about leaving Resetti to die... The pain struck him again, and Pit grimaced as he realized what it was; he was a Guardian Angel now- a protector of the innocent. It made sense that if he neglected to do his job, there would be negative repercussions._'Wait just a damn minute! I left Link to fend for himself against Ganondorf, and I didn't feel anything! Why should I have to help this little creep after all the trouble he caused me?'_ Pit thought bitterly, but the pain just struck again, and the angel sighed in defeat. There wasn't any point in arguing over the tenets of his new job; he'd might as well just do it. Pit tentatively walked back over to the door and knocked softly- why he bothered being so polite was a question even Pit couldn't answer- before calling gently, "Mr. Resetti, are you okay in there? Do you need any help?"

"M-My back! Ooh! Aw! Ohhhh, the agony! Ohhhh, the pain!" Resetti yelled back. Pit sighed. Could that little mole being any more dramatic?

"If you're not going to be serious, I'm leaving you behind!" Pit answered in exasperation.

"I am serious, you little punk! Your friend has _crippled_ me! You hear me? He _broke_ my _spine_!"

"What...? He didn't even come close to touching your spine!" Pit was starting to consider just leaving him after all, but that debilitating pain struck him again and grounded him in place. Fate seemed to think that he should be stuck with Resetti. "I'm coming in, all right?" Pit reached for the door knob, and to his chagrin, the pain instantly vanished as he pushed the door open and stuck his head inside. "Can you stand, or do I have to carry you the whole wa- Ah!" Pit pulled his head back out, narrowly avoiding one of the jagged shards of Rinku's Ocarina of Time as it went whizzing by his head and fell through the hole in the wall. Pit growled angrily, pushing the door open the rest of the way to find Mr. Resetti on his feet, in perfect condition, poised to throw another ocarina shard like he was a trained ninja assassin.

"I will have my revenge! No one takes the limelight from me, then knocks me unconscious when I finally get my chance to shine again!" Resetti yelled. He threw the shard in his hand with amazing accuracy; if Pit hadn't ducked out of the way, it would have struck him in the forehead. "Revenge!" Resetti screamed again, reaching for another shard. Before he could straighten his back, Pit crossed over to him and lifted him by the straps of his overalls, cradling him under his arm as he turned and ran out. "Hey! Put me down, you creep! M-My revenge...!"

"You can have your revenge later! Geez! You'd think you'd be a little more grateful, since I'm saving your life!"

"Hmph!" Resetti grumped, but that was all he had to say as Pit made his way down the next three floors as if he was running an obstacle course- that's how many monster remains were scattered throughout the hallways. It wasn't until he reached the eighth floor of the tower that Pit finally ran into his comrades. Only a few of them were still fighting; there were only a few dozen monsters left out of the hundreds Pit had snuck past on his way to the tower's peak. That didn't mean the others were relaxed, however. On the contrary, they all looked on edge, obviously worried about the tremors they'd felt shaking the tower. Their expressions softened, however, when they saw Pit, in peak condition, running their way, and in moments, the Smashers who weren't still busy dealing with monsters were running to meet him.

To Pit's extreme relief, Toon Link was heading the pack, an excited smile lighting his sweet, little face like he didn't have a care in the world. His expression changed, however, when he realized that Link wasn't with Pit. He slowly lost speed until he was standing completely still several feet from where Pit had stopped, looking for all the world like a little boy who'd just been told that his heroic big brother had died on the field of battle- which was exactly what Toon Link was, in a way.

While Toon Link stared at Pit with that heartbroken look on his face, the others ran past him and surrounded Pit in something of a semi-circle. To Pit's surprise, Zelda took it a step further; practically leaping out from the crowd, she threw her arms around Pit's neck and pulled him against her, forcing him to bend down to her level so that his head rested on her right shoulder. "Thank the Goddesses you're all right..." Zelda sighed, but as her hands moved down so that they rested on Pit's back, he knew that she was just moments away from changing her tune. In fact, Pit had barely finished the thought before he heard Zelda gasp, her hands suddenly patting frantically over the angel's back in search of his missing wings. When she couldn't find them with her hands, she twisted him around in the hopes of finding them with her eyes, and in so doing, revealed his wingless back to the others, who shared in the princess's shock.

"Wow. Really?" Pit huffed, more than a little surprised that no one had noticed that his wings were missing sooner; they'd jutted out several feet from his back even when they were neatly folded inward, after all.

Zelda flinched, taking the hint from Pit's exasperated tone and finally backing off, but she still looked perplexed as Pit turned back to face his comrades. "Pit, what... happened to you?"

"Nothing," Okay, technically, that was a lie, but what the princess didn't know wouldn't hurt her, right? "My wings are gone because I gave them up. I'm a Guardian Angel now."

"A... what?"

"It's..." Pit paused, considering his answer. This wasn't really the time to explain it; it would be better to wait until everyone was safely outside and away from the unstable walls of the tower before he told them. "...It's not important now. I'll explain it later."

Zelda looked mildly irritated, but rather than hound Pit for an answer, she moved on to her next question, "Okay then, since you're here and _allegedly_ all in one piece, I assume it's safe to say that you managed to get rid of Diabolus Angelus. So, tell us, where's Link? Or Rinku?" When Pit didn't have an immediate answer, Zelda lowered her gaze, looking just as worried as Toon Link did as she whispered, "Are they...?"

"No. Rinku is back where he belongs, and Link's fine. He just stayed behind to keep Ganondorf busy for us while we escape. He thinks Ganondorf might have rigged the tower to collapse, or that Snake's explosions jeopardized its stability, hence the earthquakes."

"Without those explosions, you'd be dead right now. Remember that," Snake retaliated from the front lines.

"We might be dead, anyway. Link thinks that we only have a few minutes until this place falls on us. We need to hurry and get out of here before that happens."

"And Sempai?" Toon Link asked nervously.

"He said he'd be out as soon as he made sure Ganondorf and Diabolus Angelus couldn't pose a problem for us anymore. He's probably finishing Ganondorf off, even as we speak." _'At least, I hope he is...'_ Pit added silently. The image of Link's icy glare popped into Pit's head, and the angel couldn't help but shiver again. When the others gave him a quizzical look, he suppressed the image to the best of his ability and waved it off as nothing. "Sorry, I just spaced out for a second. Forget it. We need to get going," Pit had hoped that he'd be able to drop the conversation there and get everyone moving- he even brushed past them and began moving toward the exit to the next floor down- but he'd barely taken a step before someone reached out and latched onto his arm, firmly locking him in place.

That someone just happened to be Peach, who looked both angry and scared out of her mind as she all but yelled, "Wait a minute! You mean that...that... _thing_ is still alive?"

'_Oh, shi... I said Ganondorf _and_ Diabolus Angelus, didn't I?' _Pit swallowed over the lump in his throat, refusing to meet Peach's eyes. The scandalized looks on the others' faces said that they were just as mortified by the valuable information Pit had accidentally leaked as Peach was. "Um... Well... We got her out of Link's body, but she went back into the crystal. We didn't want to risk destroying it and setting her free permanently..."

"I thought that arrow was supposed to _destroy_ her, not leave her perfectly intact to take control of some other poor soul! And you left Link _alone_ with her? What were you thinking?"

Was there a correct answer? Pit mulled over the possibilities, but each one would only make matters worse: It was either "Surprise! Apparently most of the powers Diabolus Angelus displayed were actually Link's, and now that he's using them himself, he's perfectly capable of ripping Ganondorf to shreds on his own. I'm sure the power trip and blood lust he'll inevitably develop afterward will wear off eventually," or "Well, Ganondorf wasn't exactly planning to use her on Link again; he's decided he'd much rather torture Link by choosing random innocent bystanders to possess so that Link is forced to murder an untold number of civilians to stop them... but hey, Link's safe, at least!" The sad part was that both answers were the truth...

"Well, Pit? What do you have to say for yourself?" Peach demanded, giving Pit a slight shake to bring him back to the here and now.

Pit could only stand to lock eyes with the princess for a few seconds before he averted his gaze to avoid the princess's scrutinizing stare and muttered weakly, "It's what Link wanted. I tried to convince him to leave, but he insisted on staying. He wanted to make sure..." Pit swallowed nervously; this time he couldn't repress the memory of Link's cold, emotionless eyes as he continued, "that Ganondorf got to suffer the same way he'd made Link suffer."

"Link said that?" At Pit's hesitant nod, Peach gently shoved him aside, an angry scowl on her face as she spun around to face the direction Pit had come from and started down the hallway. "Well, then, I'll go up there and drag him back myself, whether he's gotten his payback or not! And while I'm at it, I'm gonna smash that tramp's precious crystal and destroy her, once and for all!"

"Wait...!" Pit yelled, starting to regain his bearings and follow after the Mushroom Princess. "There's no time for that! We need to get out of here before we're leveled along with the rest of the building! I get that you want to help Link; I do, too, but Link asked me to get you guys to safety while he took care of Ganondorf, so that's what I'm doing," Peach stopped dead in her tracks, and for a moment, Pit thought that he'd gotten through to her. Hoping to avoid losing the moment, Pit continued, "He promised me that he'd be out as soon as he was finished, and I trust him to keep his word. You should, too," and Pit grabbed the princess's arm, spinning her around to face him before he added desperately, "Please."

Peach sighed and shrugged out of Pit's grasp, but instead of giving up, she turned and continued toward Link. "Nope, I'm killing that bitch. I survived _one_ castle trying to crush me before. Actually, now that I think about it, I managed to survive as the universe collapsed in on itself not once but _twice_, and I've been to the land of the dead and back _literally _on multiple occasions, so how hard could it really be to survive _this_?"

"Peach!" Pit growled, hurrying to catch up to the princess before she made a terrible mistake. He tried to call to her again, but before the words were even formed on his tongue, the tower shook again, knocking the two of them against the wall and putting the others off balance in various ways. This was the severest earthquake yet; the entire building was swaying to and fro violently as the cracks left in the walls from one of the previous quakes widened, causing chunks of the walls to break free and fall through the equally cracked floor. As Pit looked on in horror, a cluster of cracks quickly formed under everyone's feet, the floor's weakening state making it incapable of holding the Smashers' weight any longer as the floor collapsed out from under their feet and sent them plummeting into the corridor below.

Once the cloud of dust kicked up by the falling debris had finally settled, a quick head count confirmed that everyone was present and accounted for, and aside from a few minor bumps and bruises and bronchial irritation from the dust, they were all fine; they'd purposefully dropped from much worse heights before, after all. Curiosity getting the better of them, many of the Smashers glanced up at the new hole in the ceiling, discovering that most of the floor had collapsed and that the ceiling above looked just moments away from following. Whether they liked it or not, it was time to get out of there, and fast. Thankfully, the few remaining monsters had been crushed to death by the rubble, so the Smashers simply had to pull themselves out and head for the exit.

The only problem was that, instead of an army of monsters chasing them down as in their first escape with Rinku as their leader, this time there was a series of loud booms as the tower slowly collapsed in on itself, each level that fell in adding to the stress on the one below it as they began to fall through with an alarming regularity. Each boom got closer and closer until the Smashers finally reached the bottom level and dashed through the hole Snake had blasted through one of the walls to safety, followed closely by a huge dust cloud as the first seven levels fell through to the first, effectively blocking the only safe exit from any further use.

Several of the Smashers continued going, concerned about getting away should the rest of the tower collapse, but a select few, Pit included, stopped dead in their tracks as they realized the cold truth of what had just happened; Link was now trapped in the tower, faced with either an eight story drop through the hole blasted through the wall of the lowest remaining floor, or a slow, agonizing death as the remainder of the tower collapsed on top of him. Either way, he'd be doomed.

Whether Link liked it or not, they needed to figure out a way to get inside, fetch him, and get back out. Clearing the blockage from the entrance wasn't an option; not only would another blast rattle what was left of the weak foundation and bring the tower down faster, but it would still leave Link with an eight story drop. The only real way to get Link out safely was to fly up, fetch him, and fly back. Pit obviously wasn't capable of pulling off such a feat alone anymore, but luckily, they had someone who could help.

"Snake-" Pit turned toward the mercenary and was nearly knocked over by a powerful gust as Snake's helicopter came to hover above him. Snake, who was already dangling from the rope ladder, had one hand extended to help Pit up. Apparently, they'd been having the same idea.

With a quick "We're going to get Link. Be back in a moment" for the others, Pit dropped off Mr. Resetti, hoisted himself onto the ladder, and once they were both securely in place, Snake gave the signal to take them back to the tower. Although the flight only took a few seconds, it felt like an eternity to Pit, chewing nervously at his lower lip as the chopper took the two of them up the side of the building to the hole in the twelfth floor.

Pit quickly jumped into the infamous hallway for what he sincerely prayed was the last time, well aware that he only had a limited amount of time before Snake's Final Smash ended and that he needed to hurry if he wanted any hope of getting Link out safely. The angel made a mad dash for the top floor and, from there, the throne room, his heart pounding a mile a minute in anticipation of what he would find when he arrived. He wasn't sure what had drawn him to believe Link was still in the throne room, especially since Link had promised to be finished meeting out his revenge in just a few minutes, but as the angel burst into the room, he called out his friend's name, absolutely certain that Link was there...

...and he was... though it took Pit a moment to register as much. First he needed to process the utter carnage left by the battle. The walls, ceiling, and floor were covered in sprays of blood, some sections drenched in it and scarred by deep sword slashes where they'd shoved each other against the walls. In several of these areas the blood was accompanied by scorch marks, but whether they were a product of Link's magic or Ganondorf's was anyone's guess. What few possessions Ganondorf had used to decorate his throne room were smashed to pieces, adding to the debris from Ganondorf's struggle against Diabolus Angelus when she chose to possess him earlier. The windows were all broken, the doors were falling off their hinges, the candles were hacked to pieces... Pit couldn't believe how much damage Ganondorf and Link had managed to cause in the short time since Pit had left them to their battle.

Of course, the damage to the room was nothing compared to the damage the two Triforce wielders had managed to cause to each other, as Pit discovered once he located them among the wreckage. Somehow, Link had managed to destroy all of Ganondorf's armor, revealing the weaker brown and black leather beneath and, more importantly, the glowing white mark on his chest. Whether Link was aiming for this spot, however, wasn't entirely clear; while plenty of slashes crossed the ancient wound, many more were placed, curiously enough, in areas without any vital organs. The way they were clustered and the obvious depth of most of the wounds left little doubt that Link had struck these areas intentionally, but had he done it as a way to incapacitate Ganondorf so that he could strike him where it truly mattered, or was Link just out to torture his arch enemy as much as possible? The many burns Ganondorf had sustained across his chest and arms only added to the mystery, as did the unusual fact that the complex headpiece that had held Ganondorf's hair up in curls had been destroyed, leaving Ganondorf's hair hanging loose yet somehow still completely intact.

For Link's part, the damage he'd sustained was minimal compared to Ganondorf; although, considering the way Ganondorf was banged up, that wasn't saying much. Aside from a number of shallow slashes and a little scraped skin along both arms, Link's injuries were a little less obvious. Pit had to concentrate to spot the way Link hobbled on his left leg and the grotesque angle that it had been twisted. It also took him a while to realize that what he thought was only a shadow on Link's neck was actually a dark, disgusting bruise the size of one of Ganondorf's hands and this, coupled with another, plum-colored bruise peaking out from beneath the left side of Link's vest, was the cause of the deep, quick, rattling breaths heaving out of Link's mouth. Other than his breathing, Link appeared perfectly composed, dodging what few blows Ganondorf attempted in his sad state and countering with startling quickness and precision.

Pit found himself mesmerized by the struggle, completely forgetting why he had come back as he watched them duel. Before Pit's very eyes Ganondorf's attacks grew sloppier until he finally attempted a horizontal slice that went several feet over Link's head, causing him to stumble forward from his own inertia and leave him open to a quick forward thrust from Link's Master Sword to Ganondorf's weak point. This strike had done it; Ganondorf crumbled weakly to the floor, face up, exhausted, and still alive, as evidenced by his own staggered breathing. Pit was ready to jump for joy in the face of Link's eminent victory...Until:

"Get up," Link hissed, walking to Ganondorf's right side, where the Magic Sword was lying tantalizingly close to Ganondorf's lax hand, "I'm not nearly finished with you yet." The most Link got for his unsettling request was an angry groan, to which the hero replied, "Oh, come on. Don't tell me you're wussing out of our fight. Because if you are," To Pit's horror, Link reached down and lifted Ganondorf's arm up by the wrist, pressing the Master Sword against the calloused skin hard enough to draw blood, "then I get to take your piece of the Triforce. It's only fair, considering how often you've threatened to kill me for mine. Actually, I don't really know how effective chopping off your hand will be to getting your Triforce, but, hey, at least it'll be _fun_," Link chuckled, but it wasn't anything like the sweet, lighthearted, sometimes wry laugh he'd had before. There was nothing but malice in his voice. "Come to think of it, didn't you say you can't die as long as you have the Triforce of Power? So if I take your hand off, I'll be able to kill you, right? Or, better yet, I could just hack your hand off and leave you, and you can be stuck as a lefty for the rest of your life. The reasons to chop your hand off are just piling up by the second, aren't they, Ganon? Now, I'll tell you this one last time. Either your ass gets up, or your hand comes off," When Ganondorf didn't move, Link shrugged his shoulders and with a quick "Have it your way," lowered his own hand so that it was resting closer to Ganondorf's elbow in order to avoid hacking off some of his own fingers by mistake.

He was seriously going to do it! Pit, completely mortified by the sadistic nature of Link's actions, blurted out, without thinking, "What the _hell_ are you doing?"

Link spun around quickly, dropping Ganondorf's arm, and for a moment the dark look in his eyes gave Pit the impression that he was going to turn the attack on him instead. "Pit?" The malice in Link's eyes instantly vanished, and Pit couldn't help but sigh in relief as his friend hurried to his side as fast as his twisted leg would allow him to. "What are you doing here? Are the others all right? Did they all get out safely?"

"Everyone's fine, but most of the lower levels of the tower collapsed while we were escaping. Snake and I came back using his Final Smash to get you out."

"But..." Link glanced back at Ganondorf's prone, unmoving form, and Pit could feel the hatred emanating off of Link.

_"You can't save him. Even if he survives, he's become so consumed by hatred that he'll waste the rest of his miserable life hunting for me until he finally kills himself. All you'll end up doing is create a monster that's even worse than I am..."_ Diabolus Angelus's twisted threat came to the forefront of Pit's thoughts, and the angel couldn't help but shiver. She was right; Link would kill himself if it meant taking out Ganondorf and making sure the Diabolus Crystal couldn't fall into anyone else's possession.

Pit couldn't stand the thought of that happening. Placing a hand carefully on Link's shoulder, the angel tried to coax his friend out of making a horrible mistake, "He's finished, Link. Triforce of Power or not, it'll be ages before he can recover. You've won; it's over."

"But..." Link repeated. Pit sighed. Careful reasoning wasn't going to work here; it was time to resort to blackmail.

"Fine. I'll make this easy for you. Either you come with me and we leave with Snake, or I stay here and we _both_ get crushed."

That did it; Link spun back toward Pit, eyes wide, anger unmistakable as he all but screamed, "What? No! Are you kidding me?"

"You heard me. I'm not leaving without you again. Either we both leave, or we both die," To prove that he was serious, Pit leaned back against the wall and crossed his arms over his chest defiantly. "It's your call."

"Hang on! Didn't your new promotion make you immortal?" As expected, Link was grasping at straws to get out of making his decision, but thankfully, Pit had figured he would and already had a response ready.

"No, it made me _nearly_ immortal. There are _plenty_ of things that can still kill me, and being crushed to death just happens to be one of them. Drowning's another. Then there are the arrows of anti-angels... or one of the goddesses could kill me... or I could fall to my death, which is entirely possible, since I still have _no_ idea how to use my new teleporting power... or-" Another quake, this one considerably smaller than the previous few, shook the tower, emphasizing Pit's point that time was running out and that they needed to get a move on if they didn't want to be killed. Thankfully, Link's conscience was only lost when it came to Ganondorf, the side of him that was worried for his friend's safety winning out over his desire to tear Ganondorf to shreds.

"Fine. I'll go," Link finally relented, sighing in defeat.

"Glad to hear it. Now, come on. Snake's waiting down on the next floor," Pit pushed himself away from the wall but paused when he realized Link was staring back at Ganondorf again. Aggravated with his friend's continued procrastination, he unintentionally growled, "Link-"

"Just... one last thing," Link answered, limping over to Ganondorf before Pit could protest. To Pit's relief, the hero only stopped to pick up the Magic Sword before making his way to the forgotten Hylian Shield to retrieve it as well. His last stop was at one of the pieces of Ganondorf's shattered armor, where he stooped down to retrieve the two small pouches that had hung from his enemy's belt and fished around inside them until he finally pulled out the Diabolus Crystal and chucked the bags toward Ganondorf as he slowly made his way back toward Pit. He passed the Magic Sword off to the angel, leaving the Master Sword resting comfortably in his left hand and the Diabolus Crystal and straps of the Hylian Shield in his right. "Okay. All set now."

Pit nodded, hurrying along several paces ahead of his friend as they made their way through the hallway and down the stairs to the twelfth floor. It took a little longer than Pit had expected; Link's injuries were more severe than they'd first appeared, and lugging around his weapons wasn't helping matters any as he slowly descended the stairs. Pit stopped to wait for him at the bottom of the staircase, worried that Link would turn around and go back to finish torturing Ganondorf if he didn't keep a close eye on him, but thankfully that wasn't a problem as Link reached him just a few seconds later and they continued until they came to Snake's gaping hole in the wall and peered out to find the mercenary's helicopter hovering just a few short feet away, Snake himself seated behind the controls.

"It's about time! I thought I was going to have to leave without you! Great seeing you again, by the way, Link!" Snake shouted, having to yell to be heard over the noise coming from the chopper.

"Same to you!" Link replied.

"Do you think you can get a little closer, Snake? I'm not sure if Link can make the jump!"

"Yeah, no problem! Just give me a second!"

While Snake carefully maneuvered the helicopter closer to the hole, Link turned to his friend and asked crossly, "What do you mean, you don't think I can make the jump?"

"In case you haven't noticed, your leg looks grotesque. The fact you made it down the stairs without falling all over yourself is nothing short of a miracle. I'd rather not risk the last leg of our journey ending with you falling twelve stories to your death. No pun intended."

"Yeah, whatever," Link answered bitterly, rolling his eyes.

"Prove me wrong, then," Pit replied smoothly, gesturing toward the helicopter, now as close to the tower as physically possible without risking any damage to the rotors. Snake had left the controls up to the autopilot so that he could climb back down the ladder and offer them assistance if necessary. The fact that he was holding one hand out to help Link up made the hero scowl, but to Pit's surprise, Link swallowed his pride and shoved the Master Sword unceremoniously through one of his belt loops- Pit still had Link's bandolier with the sword's proper sheath- and stepped as close to the edge of the corridor as he could, carefully reaching out to take Snake's hand and hoist himself up without losing his balance...

...but he suddenly froze, hand just out of Snake's reach, eyes wide and alert as he suddenly spun on Pit and shoved him aside, yelling "Get back!" only an instant before he himself was thrown roughly against the far wall leading to the stairs to the eleventh level by a blast of energy. "You again..." Link hissed weakly, collapsing to his knees, while Pit clambered to his feet and turned to look at their resurrected foe.

Pit didn't want to believe that Ganondorf could have recovered so quickly and followed them down the stairs, but sure enough, that's exactly who he saw standing at the other end of the hallway, his right hand outstretched toward Link and lit with the fading residue of his magical attack. His injuries hadn't fully healed yet, as evidenced by the drops of blood trailing in his wake, but that didn't seem to be much of a hindrance for the Dark Lord as he prepared another attack.

"You should have killed me while you had the chance," Ganondorf declared smugly, firing the shot and knocking Pit into the wall alongside Link. The Hero of Twilight attempted his own magical retaliation, but he only managed to form a small, unstable fireball in his hand before Ganondorf threw another blast his way, striking Link in the chest and sending a crippling jolt through his limbs. The Hylian Shield and, more importantly, the Diabolus Crystal slid from Link's weakened grip, and before Link could reach out to recover it, Ganondorf beat him to it, laughing triumphantly as he lorded his victory over his enemy.

"Give it back..." Link growled menacingly.

"And why would I want to do something like that?" Ganondorf replied, "Unless," The evil king suddenly kicked Link as hard as he could in the ribs, knocking the hero further to the floor beside his startled friend, "you can find some way to make me in your pathetic state."

"How about this?" Snake yelled, making Ganondorf finally realize that the two heroes weren't alone. He turned toward the mercenary dangling just outside of the tower... and found the grenade launcher aimed toward his feet. Snake fired without any hesitation, creating a gargantuan fireball that completely swallowed the Dark Lord but left Pit and Link untouched thanks to their distance from the point of impact. Unfortunately, the same couldn't be said for the tower; as Pit had feared earlier, the blast rattled what was left of the tower's unstable foundation, bringing large chunks of the ceiling crashing down around them while huge cracks broke up what was left of the walls and the floor and the entire building shook as the final stages of its collapse commenced.

"Shit... We've gotta go!" Pit yelled frantically. He rose to his feet and bent to help Link up, heartbroken that there wasn't enough time to heal Link and that he had to muddle through his obvious agony as Pit supported both of their weights and dragged Link through the blindingly thick cloud of smoke that had encompassed the corridor after the explosion. The smoke agitated the respiratory trouble Link was already having thanks to Ganondorf, and Pit winced in sympathy as he heard the harsh, constricted, bloody coughs heaving out of Link's throat. He wanted desperately to hurry and get Link outside, but between having to support Link's weight, blindly fight his way through the smoke, and stumble across the trembling floor, Pit was forced to continue at a snail's pace, his heart hammering furiously from the fear that they'd never reach the tantalizingly close exit at their current pace... and then Link tried to give them a reason to stop their journey altogether.

"The...crystal..." Link whispered hoarsely.

"Forget it," Pit responded quickly. "There's no time. It's a lost cause."

"No... Ganondorf still... has it... We need to... get it back..."

"And do what with it?"

"I read a book once... where some guys threw... a ring... into a volcano. I was thinking... something like that... maybe."

"Forget it. We're not turning back," Pit answered decisively.

Link sighed miserably, letting his head collapse onto Pit's shoulder, and for a moment the angel thought that he'd finally gotten through to his friend... until Link suddenly perked up again, turning his head to look back at the smoke behind them as he muttered wearily, "Pit-"

"What part of 'no' don't you understand?" Pit asked, obviously irate.

"No...Pit!" Link grabbed the angel's arm and dragged him to the floor, just seconds before another of Ganondorf's unmistakable energy balls went flying above them, right where their heads had been. If it hadn't been for Link's remarkably good hearing, that shot would have killed them.

"Now, where do you think you're going? _You're_ not 'wussing out of our fight' now, are you, _Link_?" Ganondorf hissed tauntingly. His familiar, bulky silhouette appeared just outside of the clearing his energy blast had created in the smoke, and Pit quickly scurried to his feet and lifted Link to his in its presence.

"Just what is it going to take to _kill_ him, anyway?" Pit whispered shakily, obviously perturbed by Ganondorf's inhuman stamina.

"More than either of us is capable of," Link replied solemnly.

"Great! Then we should _go_!" Pit snapped back, trying to drag his friend to the exit before he could start another battle with his arch enemy. Link prevented the angel from dragging him away simply by shrugging out of his friend's grasp, and as Link reached to remove the Master Sword from his belt, Pit realized with a sinking heart that Link had no intention of leaving with him.

Tears of frustration clouded the angel's vision as he watched Link's arm tremble from the Master Sword's normally insignificant weight. "Ohhh, no! No no no no no no _no!_" Pit screamed, grabbing Link's arm and holding it in a vice-like grip. "You are not throwing your life away over that stupid crystal! You _promised_ we were leaving together! I made it perfectly clear that neither of us was leaving here without the other!"

"I know, but... I _can't _just let him get away with this. I'd rather throw my life away trying to stop him than live the rest of my life like a coward, letting him get away and hurt Goddesses know how many more people with that crystal. Blame the Triforce of Courage if you want to, but I'm not going with you," Link answered calmly.

"The _hell_ you aren't!" Pit put all his energy into dragging Link toward the exit, but the hero stopped him with a gentle, reassuring hand placed carefully over Pit's own.

The warm, carefree smile Link flashed Pit was almost more than the angel could stand, and for a moment, the air around them seemed to freeze as Link whispered softly, "I'm sorry, Pit."

A sudden, intense pain struck Pit's hand, causing him to recoil sharply as his and Link's hands both glowed a dark, bloody shade of red, and it occurred to Pit a moment too late that Link had used magic to burn Pit and get him to let go. As the angel looked on, confused and horrified, Link waved his arm at the angel, sending him flying backwards... and out the hole in the wall into the clear, dark sky.

"Pit!" Snake screamed, completely caught off guard by the angel's sudden appearance. He tried to reach out and grab Pit's hand, but the angel was so preoccupied watching Link disappear into the smoke screen, his retreating back the last thing Pit saw of him, that he didn't realize he would fall to his death without Snake's help until it was already too late, and Snake's pale, terror-stricken face and outstretched hand were already several feet beyond his reach.

_'I'm gong to die...' _Pit realized. He watched Snake frantically climb the ladder and return to the controls, completely abandoning Link as he attempted to fly down and save Pit before it was too late. "No! Stop! Turn back! Forget about me! Link's still in there! Go get Link!" Pit screamed desperately, tears filling his eyes again. Whether Snake was ignoring him or simply hadn't heard him wasn't entirely clear to Pit, but the mercenary pressed on after the angel in a doomed attempt to rescue him. There was no way Snake would ever catch up to him; Pit was already falling at terminal velocity. In the time it would take Snake to catch up to him, he would already have hit the ground. It would be time better spent on saving Link. "Snake, turn back! Save Link!" Pit screamed again, repeating himself over and over again as he desperately tried to make the mercenary hear him. _'If I could just get in there with him...' _Pit thought. He'd never wanted anything so desperately before in his entire life. As the distance separating Pit from the ground became increasingly smaller, the angel closed his eyes and made one final prayer to his goddess, begging her to find some way to get through to Snake and make him turn back and save Link...

That way turned out to be Pit.

As Snake looked on helplessly at Pit's uncontrollable descent, a pair of translucent wings the same size as Pit's former pair sprang from the angel's back and wrapped around his entire body before exploding into a dazzling cascade of feathers, leaving Pit nowhere in sight. As the feathers vanished without a trace, Snake heard a loud, pain-filled "Ooph!" behind him as something hard collided with the even harder floor of the helicopter, and turning back to look, Snake discovered it was Pit, a few more translucent feathers floating in the air above him before they, too, disappeared.

There was a brief, awkward moment in which Pit remained frozen in place, undoubtedly in shock, while Snake struggled to find the right way to ask if the angel was all right and, more importantly, what the hell he'd just seen until finally, Pit rolled over onto his stomach and pushed himself up into a sitting position. "Oww..." Pit moaned, curling his left hand into a fist and pressing it against his aching back. "What just happened?"

"That's what I'd like to know," Snake replied, causing Pit to jump and quickly swivel his head to look at his comrade. He was...in the helicopter? How was that even possible? "One moment you were falling, the next these huge wings appeared and wrapped around you. They exploded and you were gone. Then, you were in here. That's all I know."

"Wha...?" Pit tried to wrap his mind around the brief description Snake had given him. He could almost see it in his mind- No. He _could_ see it, vividly, because he'd witnessed it hundreds of times before, whenever a Guardian Angel had either come or gone to Palutena's temple, materializing in a gorgeous flurry of feathers when they'd come to report something to the Goddess of Light, and disappearing as a ghostly vision of their former wings wrapped around them before dissolving into another flurry of feathers. It was how they got around, their mode of transportation... and Pit had finally used it. He wasn't sure how he'd done it, and if he was being perfectly honest, he didn't really care; now that Pit was with Snake, all that mattered was getting the mercenary to turn back and save Link before it was too late.

"So, any idea yet what that was?"

"Yeah, and I'll key you in on it later-"

"You've been saying that a lot lately. Lose your wings and suddenly you're just chalk full of secrets, aren't you?" Snake interjected sarcastically.

"Yeah, okay. Whatever. Now, if you'll please let me finish," Pit huffed. Snake gestured for him to continue, rolling his eyes, "we need to go back. In case you haven't noticed, Link is still in the tower fighting Ganondorf. Considering that he's the _entire_ reason we made this trip in the first place, I suggest we finish what we started and get him out!"

"I was afraid you'd say that..." Snake sighed. He ran a hand through his hair, turning back to the controls so that he wouldn't have to look Pit in the eyes as he mumbled, "I'm sorry, but we can't do it. We'd never make it."

"What?" Pit nearly shouted, jumping to his feet. To his horror, Snake slowly steered them lower, widening the distance that separated them from Link. "What are you doing?"

"Saving our lives. In case you hadn't noticed, my Final Smash doesn't last forever. Even if I don't fire every grenade, I can still only maintain flight for a few minutes. I've already pushed the time limit too far as it is. By the time we reached Link, it'd already be too late. While you might be fine with falling twelve stories again, I'm not. We're not turning back."

Snake maneuvered the helicopter in for a landing, grimacing as he heard a soft plunk as Pit collapsed to his knees. The silence emanating from the angel was eerie; to be honest, Snake had been certain Pit would start swearing and screaming at him, demanding that he go back under any one of an infinite number of threats. To just give up quietly like this...

As soon as Snake landed the helicopter, the other Smashers huddled around to greet them, eager to see Link again and make sure he was okay. Snake had to be the one to open the door, Pit unwilling to move even as Snake dragged him out and ended up scraping Pit's knees against the base of the door. The helicopter disappeared only a second later, vanishing as suddenly as it had appeared. It was proof to Pit that Snake had been right... and worse, proof to the others that Link wasn't with them.

Pit couldn't make eye contact with the others as he saw their expressions change from excited to perplexed, and from there to fear and sadness. Eyes downcast to the ground, all Pit could see was Marth's boots as the prince of Altea crossed the short distance separating him from the angel and asked worriedly, "Where's Link? Is he...?"

"I don't know. He wanted to stay behind and fight Ganondorf. He was in really bad shape, so I tried to get him to leave... but he insisted on staying and made me leave him behind..."

"What?" Marth's feet stumbled out of view as Peach pushed her way past him and grabbed the front of Pit's tunic, attempting to force him to look her in the eyes. "You were supposed to get him back! How could you just leave him again?"

"I didn't want to... I tried to drag him out... but he used magic and..."

"Peach..." The Mushroom Princess released Pit as the bottom of Zelda's dress glided into view. "I'm sure Pit tried his best to get Link to leave. Link is stubborn... I'm afraid it's one of his greatest weaknesses. When he sets his mind to something, he won't rest until it's taken care of. If Pit says he tried to get Link to leave, then he did. Besides... I'm sure Link can still get out on his own," Pit flinched and finally lifted his gaze to look at the Hylian princess, a glimmer of hope in his eyes. "He still has his items, right? If he uses the Clawshots to grab what's left of the walls, he could slowly make his way down to the lower floors and get out through one of the windows."

And just like that, Pit's hope was smashed to pieces. He lowered his gaze again, muttering angrily, "No, he can't. I have all his items. They used Link's tunic to create their illusion in the graveyard. Rinku salvaged it and gave it to me to wear for the battle. Everything was there... including Link's item bags."

"But are you sure you got everything? There are a few items that Link stores... specially."

"Yes, I"m sure!" Pit screamed, anger seething and he reached down and undid his belt, ripping the item bag off of it and dumping its contents onto the ground. Everything was there, from Link's bottles to the weapons he'd collected throughout his adventure and everything in between. Even the Magic Armor Link used to wrap up the Twilight Gem that let him transform into a wolf was there, and the gem itself slipped out as the armor struck the ground. "There! All the proof you need that I fucked up big time! Maybe if _you'd_ been the one trying to get Link to leave, you would have had the brains to leave Link his stuff so that he could get out. But nooo. I was the one who went, and now Link's trapped with no way to get himself free because of me!" Pit threw the item bag and the belt to the ground beside the items and covered his face with one hand, shaking from the effort of containing his tears and bottling the scream that wanted to escape him.

"Pit..." Zelda tentatively stepped closer to her grieving friend, slightly frightened that he would turn and snap at her again if she said or did anything to comfort him. She hesitated to reach out and touch his shoulder, but in the end she had nothing to worry about; before the princess could touch him, the ground shook one final time, toppling all of the Smashers over again as long ruts sprang out from the base of the tower, one of them nearly swallowing Pit until Zelda hurriedly transformed into Sheik and hoisted him back onto solid ground.

Pit shivered slightly as he was half lead, half dragged away from the giant chasm, but the fear of falling to his death after narrowly avoiding a similar fate just moments before was nothing compared to the terror he felt as a loud, heavy bang rang out louder than the rumbling earth, followed closely by screams of terror from some of the other Smashers. A heavy, intense pain struck Pit's chest, as if he were being crushed to death, and he fell from Sheik's grasp onto the cold, hard ground, gasping for breath as the same pain he'd felt when he debated whether to rescue Resetti or not struck again, only ten times worse. He couldn't form a coherent thought, overcome by Link's terror as it flooded his brain in an empathic wave before suddenly, unexpectedly, it vanished, leaving Pit mortified as he watched the tower slowly crash to the ground into a large heap of rubble while, back with the other Smashers, Toon Link suddenly vanished, seemingly erased from history before their very eyes without any sort of warning.

Whether it was the destruction of the tower or Ganondorf's demise, no one could say, but shortly after the earthquake and all of its smaller aftershocks finally died away, the spell Ganondorf had cast to transform the World of Trophies into the Evil Realm was reversed, the sky suddenly turning blue and fresh vegetation sprouting up under the Smashers as they struggled to their feet. As Popo had explained earlier, Ganondorf had decided to build his tower right over the spot where King Dedede's castle had once stood, as evidenced by the long, lonely dirt trail spanning the huge chasm that now separated the Smashers from the rubble. The singing of birds filled the heavy silence that hung over the Smashers as Pit slowly rose to his feet, clutching at his chest to quell the residual ache he felt from Link's final moments. Even though he'd known it was coming, had been trying to prepare for it, Pit couldn't help but scream "Link!" at the top of his lungs, scaring a flock of birds into taking flight as the angel collapsed to his knees and cried.

It wasn't fair. After everything he'd done trying to save Link, they still wound up losing him in the end. The same feeling of hopelessness he'd experienced when the Creature convinced him Link was dead came back stronger than before, and Pit found his eyes trailing to the Magic Sword looped through his belt, seriously considering the same actions he'd taken before with the Master Sword. Before he realized what he was doing, Pit had drawn the sword and was holding it at arm's length, blade pointed toward his chest. This was what he deserved; it was supposed to be his sole duty to get Link back safe and sound, and he'd failed miserably. It would be better for everyone if he took his own life, preventing anyone else from dying because of his actions...

"Pit, stop!" Ike screamed, rushing over to stop the angel before it was too late. He managed to wrap one arm around Pit's chest and pin him backwards against his chest, using his other hand to grasp Pit's arm and hold it out and away from the angel. Pit was screaming like a wounded, savage beast and thrashing wildly against Ike's hold on him, sorrow and frustration gripping him in equal parts. He'd finally reached his breaking point, what little sanity he'd clung to during his doomed mission cast to the wind. He couldn't even remember the name of the purple haired warrior he was struggling against anymore or even where he was. All he knew was that death would be the only thing capable of removing the pain he felt over his anguishing loss, and this man had the gall to keep him from his goal.

By now, Pit and Ike's struggle had attracted the others' attention, and as they all rushed over to see what was going on, Ike shouted frantically, hoping the others could hear him over Pit's frenzied screaming, "Hey, I need someone to help control Pit! He's trying to kill himself!" Pit slammed his free elbow into the underside of Ike's chin and began worming his way out of Ike's weakening grasp. "Hurry! I can't hold him much longer!"

Catching the primal, guttural growls and screams issuing from Pit, few of the Smashers were willing to get near him in his delicate state, and only Marth was brave enough to assist his fellow swordsman in halting Pit's movements. He managed to pry the Magic Sword from the panicking angel's hand, but his only reward was a swift and sloppy kick to the knees that made his legs buckle. Trying hard to resist the urge to retaliate, Marth pinned the angel's legs beneath his knees and leaned forward to pin Pit's free hand to the ground- a costly move on his part, since it put his ears that much closer to Pit's mouth as the angel began wailing and screeching in despair, fully aware that he had no chance to escape and was being forced to remain in misery among the living.

"He's in so much pain," Marth muttered sympathetically, averting his gaze so that he wouldn't have to see the tears streaming down Pit's cheeks. He knew exactly how Pit was feeling- had nearly gone through the same thing when he was forced to abandon Altea and his sister with it while fleeing the invading forces from Gra.

"Maybe I can help with that..." Satoshi replied softly. When had he crossed to Marth's side? Better yet, how had he heard Marth over Pit's hysteria? The Pokemon Trainer brandished one of his Poke Balls and tossed it to the ground wordlessly, and out popped the overly familiar, big-eyed, pink, cat-eared Jigglypuff. "Cover your ears," Satoshi instructed the other Smashers. Ike and Marth were hesitant to follow his advice, knowing that Pit would use the opportunity to try to escape and finish what he'd started; however, they knew that Pit wouldn't last long against Jigglypuff's attack and finally released him to cover their ears. As expected, Pit struggled to his feet and started to scurry away, but he'd barely taken five steps before Satoshi commanded, "Jigglypuff, use Sleep," and the Pokemon eagerly complied, belting out a quick sing-song version of its own name that turned Pit's entire body numb as a heavy, overpowering fatigue washed over him and he collapsed to the ground in a silent, dreamless sleep. "There. Hopefully, some rest will make him a little more composed."

"But he'll still have a lot to deal with when he wakes up. Still, thanks for the help," Ike replied, walking over to the dozing angel and hoisting him over his shoulder. "I'll take him back to Hyrule Castle. Hopefully, the soldiers stationed everywhere will make him think twice about trying anything there."

"I can't believe he went berserk like that. I mean, I know saving Link meant a lot to him, but..." Snake's voice trailed off and he turned his attention to the pile of rubble. "Speaking of, what are the odds we'll be able to find his body in this mess?"

"I think the better question is, would we know it was him if we did find it? He had to have been crushed pretty badly. Not to mention," Mario swallowed, trying not to vomit at the disgusting mental image he conjured as he spoke, "it's pretty humid through this area, with plenty of moisture coming off of the river near the jungle. Depending on how far down Link got have been buried, it could be months before we'd find him, and by then, the decomposition to his body would be so bad that most of his remains would be skeletal at best-"

"Stop. Please, just stop," Zelda moaned, tears forming at the corners of her eyes as she turned away from the tower's remains. "It's bad enough that Link and Toon Link are gone now without you talking about Link's 'remains'. How do we even know he's really dead? M-Maybe Link managed to escape at the last minute, and T-Toon Link just went back to the future. He d-did it at the end of the Subspace Emissary without warning anyone first, right?" Zelda cut herself off with a sob, just as unconvinced by her poorly conceived theory as the others were.

Marth wrapped a consoling arm around the princess, allowing her to turn into his chest and cry into his tunic. "Princess Zelda's right. Let's forget about searching for Link's body for now. It's been a long, awful day for all of us. Why don't we all go home for a while... and start the search some other time?"

Hungry, tired, and depressed by their dual loss and the failure of their mission, it was something that all the Smashers could agree upon. Taking up what few supplies and weapons they still had, the Smashers began the long, weary journey toward the Stadium, and from there, toward a grim, uncertain future.

To Be Continued

**Yellow! Just here to say I still don't own Super Smash Bros., The Legend of Zelda, Kid Icarus, Fire Emblem, etc., etc... but I am, according to my Pirattitude personality assessment (Mad Molly), Pirate zodiac (Iron Bar), and Pirate animal (Tuna), a total cutthroat bitch, so it turns out Diabolus Angelus is based on me more than I'd realized! Yay! Too bad she doesn't get anymore appearances now that I've realized that! Or maybe it's better that way. Anywho...**

** Okay, I realize I was supremely wrong in my predictions at the end of the last chapter. This chapter did not come out before my birthday (over a week late, in fact; although, part of the problem was that when I tried to post this chapter earlier, I'd had it saved as the wrong file type, so when I went to add the review replies, the chapter was all messed up and had all that annoying "/tab" and "par" bullshit instead of the actual f-ing tab and end of the paragraph like I wanted, and getting rid of it all and italisizing again would have been a major pain in the ass, so I had to go home, save the file as a different type, and try again.) and when I said that I was already a third of the way done I'd had no idea how freaking long this chapter would end up being. I mean, really! This is the longest chapter yet, and I'd thought it would be less than half the size it is now since only a few key things were supposed to happen. That seems to happen a lot in this story; I expect a chapter to be super short based on content (like chapter 13 since it was just the imprisonment scene, or chapter 16 since it was supposed to only involve climbing the tower) but these end up being the longest ones, so you know what, the next chapter's guaranteed to be huge based on my current plans for it... Of course, since I promised only two chapters remain, it might have more...and it had better be done in less than two months or I'm gonna be pissed!**

**And now that my ranting is over, it's time for review replies:**

**riverraiden: Augh, I haven't had time to read that story, so I've only gotten through two chapters. I liked what I've read so far, though. ^_^ Ha, everybody was fine last chapter, and now two characters are dead and another's crazy. It happens, I guess. I'm not sure which is right either, but I assume it will one day blow up into a huge debate, like how to pronounce "creek" (I say it's like "crick", personally). I actually didn't expect the fight to be carried out in several small installments, but your assessment of the chapter was basically right. Bye!**

**thebadpanda: First of all, thanks for reviewing not once but twice! There was certainly plenty of pissed off/ sadistic Link in this chapter, and I'm glad that you liked how I wrote the scene where Link was possessed, especially since it was the most important part of the story. And cookies and chocolate? Where is there cookies and chocolate? I **_**need**_** some cookies and chocolate! I got a chocolate cookie cupcake recently, and when I shared it with my sister, she accidentally dropped my half of the cookie on the floor of her jeep and I didn't get to eat it! I demand my share, dammit!**

**Captain Black Knight: The best way to read my story is drunk? That's awesome! Just so you know, I recently acquired a gas mask, so you can feel free to use whatever sort of poisonous gas you want on me for what I've done (not that that'll really help me against any pitchforks); I'm sure you're planning much worse since I just murdered Link and Toon Link, though. Still, I hope you stick around for the ending; considering some of the other crazy twists I've written into this story, it's hard to say what'll come next… after all, I never said the possessions were over- I said we didn't see anymore of Diabolus Angelus. Mwa ha ha ha- Gah, don't kill me! Ah, not the eyes! Nooooo!**

**iMelinda: Ha, someone else to apologize to for the brutal murder of Link and Toonie, and Pit succumbed to the crazies instead of his wounds. Oops. I almost changed the ending so that Pit was just depressed, mainly because I actually just experienced my own tragic loss after we had to put my eleven-year-old beagle to sleep, but I changed my mind because I figured I would drag my feet about finishing it and the update would take even longer than it already did. One thing I know for sure, though, is that the battles aren't necessarily about the Smashers moving on with another crisis. Just saying… And with that little cliffhanger, I hope you'll be back for the next chapter to see what happens.**

**MentallyMelodic: Welcome, fellow sadist, and thanks! You want Pit to die? It's sort of a niche of mine to kill characters in my review replies, so if you want it to happen, it can happen next time!**

**And done! Next up is Chapter 20… Twenty being my new current age, and seeing as how I just turned twenty, I'd better not have the chapter up after I turn twenty-one! And until the new chapter is up, read and review, please! See ya!**


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